The Way
by redsandman99
Summary: In the wake of the destruction of their respective relationships, Dean and Roman hit the road to try to escape dealing. But the quest to not deal goes awry when totally complicated and maybe not so new feelings are brought to the surface.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a little while now, but I needed time to outline where I wanted to go with it. Now that I think I have a handle on how I want to handle it and where I want it to go, I now present this to the world.

* * *

><p>"Oh come on! That's a bullshit fucking call ref! That was not a fucking penalty and you know it! God damn cock sucker!"<p>

Roman pinched the bridge of his nose. He loved Dean to death, but his need to scream at the TV when something happened that he didn't like was not something he enjoyed. Especially not when they were in public. Tuesdays meant sixty cent wing night at Buffalo Wild Wings, which meant that was where they met up to have dinner. Dean's eyes were glued to the big TV screen right in front of him, his anger level rising as his team continued to lose. "Come on man." He wiped his fingers off with a napkin before clamping his hand down on Dean's shoulder. "It's just a game."

"It's not just a game! I got fifty bucks riding on this!" Dean shrugged Roman's hand off him and furiously bit into another wing. He had a basket of onion rings in front of him, though he kept stealing Roman's fries while he was at it. "Like fuck dude. I can't keep losing my money."

"So stop gambling you dumbass." Roman had no sympathy for Dean on this front. Dean knew better but still did it anyway. Of course, that described just about everything he got himself into. And it had been that way for as long as he could remember. Hell, the day they had met in Miss Kennedy's kindergarten class, he had pulled the fire alarm just because they had gone over the fact that it was not a toy for them to touch. If wasn't doing things to push the consequences then he just didn't know what to do with himself. "You don't see me doing that shit anymore."

"Because you're a pussy." Dean reached over to steal more fries.

"No, I'm just fucking responsible with my shit." Roman slapped his hand away from his food. "I saved my money and got me and Seth our nice house. You blow yours and live in that shitty ass apartment. Maybe you need to start using me as an example."

"And maybe you should just suck my balls."

That declaration got them a nasty glare from the lady sitting at the next table with her three young children. Roman mouthed an apology to her. It wasn't really accepted. Dean didn't even look the least bit sorry. Not that Roman expected him to. Dean was perhaps the most unapologetic person Roman had ever met in his life. Roman himself always shrugged it off. He was beyond used to it. But it didn't mean other people did, and that made things more than a little awkward sometimes.

"So where the hell has Seth been lately? Is he like, ever around anymore?"

"They got him working pretty late," Roman admitted. About six months ago, his boyfriend Seth had gotten a new job with the McMahon and Helmsley law firm. He had been moving up the ranks ever since, becoming a personal favorite of Hunter, who was one of his bosses. Hunter's wife Stephanie seemed to like him to, which meant they were trusting him with more and more cases. That meant more money, which was great, but it was meaning that they never got to see each other. It didn't help that Roman worked a lot too. His family owned a construction company, one that he had all but ran when his father fell victim to cancer. Thankfully it was in remission now, and he was looking to reclaim his spot. Roman was going to be more than happy to give it to him. He needed a break. What he really wanted was to take some of the money he had saved and take Seth on vacation. A stay at a beach house, a trip through Europe because Seth always wanted to go, a visit up to New York City or Las Vegas-just something where they could get away for awhile. Whether Seth could get the time off now though was the issue.

"Pretty late?" Dean snorted loudly. "He wasn't there to glare at me when I came over Saturday. How am I supposed to go on without his seething hatred?"

Roman rolled his eyes. "He doesn't hate you."

Dean's grunt showed how much he disagreed with that one. If Roman was going to be honest, Dean was probably more right than he was. Seth and Dean had never really clicked. Seth thought Dean was obnoxious (which he was) and Dean thought Seth was a bitch (which Roman disagreed with, but unfortunately, others thought Dean was right). Roman had been trying for the past year and a half to get them to get along. He adored Seth, and even if Dean was kind of an ass, he had also been his best friend since he was five. It was important to him that they liked each other. So far though, the best they ever managed was to be civil. And maybe asking for more was just too much, but he still hoped for the best.

"He should be home this weekend. Why don't you come over again? Bring Renee with you. We like her."

"You like that she brings cookies." Dean grabbed his beer and took a long sip from it. "I'm not even going to be around this weekened. I've got plans."

"With Renee?"

Dean shifted around uncomfortably. "No. Not with her."

"Dolph then?"

"No."

"Cody?"

"No."

"AJ?"

"Can you stop guessing?"

"Maxine?"

"Stop it."

"Cesaro?"

Dean let out a long sigh. "God you make me sound like a whore."

"Well you do have a lot of people you fuck around with." Roman tilted his head to the side. Dean would have confirmed if it was any of the people he just listed...which meant there was only one person that was left. "Oh god no!"

"Don't get mad."

"It's Regal isn't it?"

"Ummmmm...no?"

"Liar!" Roman threw his hands up in exasperation. "You can't be fucking serious! Regal? Again?" He couldn't even believe they were going to have this conversation again. He had hoped they were past this. Regal had been their psychology professor back in college. Dean had been infatuated with him from the moment he laid eyes on the British man. Roman didn't understand it. Sure he was good looking enough, but there had been something very, very off about him from the beginning. Not that Dean listened to a word Roman said on the matter. He pursued the relationship, becoming totally obsessed. Regal, who had a very on again, off again relationship with his wife, gave in and had the same type of relationship with Dean. It never struck Roman that Regal actually liked Dean. He liked that Dean was so into him. He liked that he could make Dean do just nasty, dirty, degrading things when they slept together. He liked that he could send Dean on an emotional tailspin without any real effort and Roman fucking hated him for it.

"It's different this time," Dean insisted.

"You say that every time!"

"Do not."

"Oh you do too. Jesus dude. He plays you like a fiddle. Why can't you see that?"

"He's not." Dean shifted around in his seat. His eyes refused to even meet Roman's now. It was hard to tell if he just was uncomfortable because Roman was mad at him, or because deep down, he actually knew Roman was right. Even if it was the latter though, it wasn't like he would actually admit it. He was too stubborn for that. No, Regal would have to fuck him over yet again before he admitted this time was no different than the other ones. His inability to truly learn from his mistakes was frustrating and infuriating. Roman just wanted to strangle him.

"What do you even think you'll be doing with him this weekend?"

"Probably go up to the cabin. Get some alone time."

"Where he can hide the fact that he's with you."

"Fuck you Ro." Dean pushed aside his food and tried to stand up. "I don't need a fucking lecture."

"Yes you fucking do." Roman grabbed him by the arm and made him sit back down. "He fucks you over every god damn single time. He's fucking awful for you. And who picks up the pieces? Me." Roman gave him a pleading look. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again."

Dean tried to keep looking pissed. But the fight went out of him and he just shrugged helplessly. "I'll be fine alright? You don't gotta worry so much." He stole another French fry and popped it into his mouth. "You got your own shit to worry about. You're fucking gonna propose to Seth. You're marrying the queen of bitch tits."

"He's not a bitch tit!" Roman rolled his eyes as Dean just snickered. "Fuck you man. All you do is torment him. You might actually like him if you ever actually gave him a chance."

"He thinks he's better than me." Dean leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. "Which is whatever. Everyone fucking does. But he also thinks he's better than you. Fucking arrogant ass prick only got with you because you're pretty and successful. You make him look good."

"That is such fucking bullshit and you know it." Roman curled his hand around his beer but didn't take a drink. Dean was literally fucking the king of arrogant pricks in Regal and refused to recognize it. Yet he was going to sit there and talk shit on Seth? Hell no. "He knows plenty of fucking pretty and successful people as you put it. Yet he's with me."

"Well you are the prettiest in all the land." Dean reached over and flipped some of Roman's hair around. "I mean look at this hair. Fucking gorgeous as shit." He ran his fingers over Roman's cheek, getting hot sauce on him in the process. "And look at this chiseled fucking face. You're fucking carved out of stone aren't you?"

Roman slapped his hand away. "Stop that."

"I'm just saying..."

"He loves me and I love him. And if you aren't coming over this weekend, then I'll just propose instead."

Dean smirked. "So now proposing to Mr. Bitch Tits is a spite move? Should I mention that when I give my speech at the wedding?"

Roman raised his eyebrows. "Who said you'd be giving a speech?"

"Well the best man always gives a speech."

"And you're just appointing yourself that?"

"I'm the best friend. Just because you got like ten million family members doesn't mean you get to deprive me of that shit. I will fucking elbow drop all the mother fuckers in your family for that spot."

Roman couldn't help but smile at that. It was nice to know that even if Dean didn't like Seth, he would still stick by him during the wedding. "I'm sure they'll appreciate that." He gave a quick nod to the waitress, who had brought him a refill without him having to say anything. "Good luck fighting my brother though. One shot from him and you'll be down for the count."

Dean snorted loudly. "Yeah. He wishes."

The rest of dinner passed without argument. When they were done they split the bill and headed back to Dean's place for more drinks. Roman knew it actually wasn't a good idea. They both had a work in the morning. But Dean kept insisting, and if he were to be honest, he was always terrible at turning him down. So he ended up stretched out on Dean's couch like usual, another beer in hand while Dean kicked back in his recliner. "Don't you have to be at work at like five tomorrow?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Something like that." Dean cracked open his own beer and took a long drink. "It's alright though. Not like I've never worked hungover before."

Roman rolled his eyes. Dean's current gig was being a camera man for the local news station, though nobody knew how long that would actually last. Dean had never really been one to figure out what he actually wanted to do for the rest of his life. Instead he drifted around from job to job, never settling for anything too long because he grew restless. Roman could have argued that wasn't the way to go, but he tended not to. At some point, Dean would find something to really settle into. It was just a matter of when and what.

They watched another game, this time in silence. Dean didn't have any money on the line, and neither one of them actually cared about either team. It just served as background noise. Roman continuously checked his phone as it went on. He had texted Seth during the drive back here, but he had yet to hear back. That wasn't anything unusual really. Not with how often Seth was working late anyway. He was surely just busy. But that didn't mean Roman liked it. Before he started working so late, they were rarely ever apart. Dean often complained they were attached at the hip. And he could understand how that would be annoying. He really could. But he still missed it. He was tired of not having anyone to come home to. He was tired of going to bed alone and being woken up by Seth grabbing a quick shower before he slipped into bed himself. He was tired of Seth being cranky because he was just so exhausted from being overworked. They needed him to get the time off so they could get back on track.

"Ro?"

"Yeah?"

"You really sure you want to marry him?"

Roman frowned. Dean's tone was softer. More concerned than he usually let himself be. "Yeah. I do." He sat himself up and turned so he could look more fully at his longtime friend. "You really sure Regal's different now?"

"Yeah." It was hard to tell if Dean was trying to actually convince him or himself. Either way, Roman didn't buy it for a second.

"I'll fucking kill him if he hurts you again."

Despite groaning, Dean's lips twitched with a hint of a smile. "Thanks, I guess."

"Any time."


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of Seth's shouting woke Roman up the next morning. He let out a low groan, rolling over on to his stomach and burying his face into his pillow because he didn't want to get up. His head was pounding from not only his hangover, but just the lack of sleep he had gotten as a whole. "Fuck," he grumbled under his breath. Getting up and doing anything with his day sounded like the most awful thing he possibly could do. Staying in bed and just sleeping seemed like the better option. But it wasn't one he could go with. He forced himself to roll out of bed, stumbling around as he put on his clothes. He needed to shower, but he wasn't going to mess with it now. Instead he went downstairs, finding Seth muttering to himself as he made himself a smoothie.

"That fucking dog got in the yard again. Completely dug it up." Seth slammed his glass down on the counter. "Fucking god damn bastard thing."

Roman shook his head. The dog in question was Homer, the St. Bernard that belonged to their neighbors Eve and Kaitlyn. He was actually a really sweet dog, despite his determination to ruin their yard. Roman always just shrugged it off, but Seth was another story. He didn't like dogs unless they were small and easy to keep out of the way. And he had a bit of a tendency to overreact to things, which didn't endear him to Eve or Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn at least took it in stride; Eve just got right back in his face and would one day bite it off if he wasn't careful.

"I didn't hear you come in last night." Roman decided to just change the subject completely. He wrapped an arm around Seth's waist from behind and rested his chin on his shoulder. "How late were you?"

"I uh, didn't really keep track." Seth rested his hand over Roman's. "I got pretty lost in what I was doing." He rubbed his thumb against the back of Roman's hand. "You were pretty dead to the world when I came in." He craned his head back so he could look at Roman. "How drunk did you get last night?"

"Not that drunk." Roman wasn't a liar by nature. He really wasn't. But a little white lie on this subject felt necessary. "I made it home okay didn't I?"

"Is he coming over this weekend?"

"Dean? Nah. He's hanging with Regal again." Roman spat that part out bitterly.

Seth raised his eyebrows. "That fucking British guy you hate?"

"That's the one." Roman tried to shake off his anger. It wasn't going to do any good to let himself get riled up about the subject now. "I was trying to get him to bring Renee over, but whatever. We can go out for dinner instead."

Seth shifted around uncomfortably. "I was gonna work..."

"Work? More?" Roman turned Seth around and pressed him up against the counter. "Babe, that's all you fucking do." He followed Seth's eyes, determined to not let him avoid eye contact. "Come on. Do you really have to?" He grabbed Seth by the chin and tilted his head up. "Just take the weekend off." He softened his gaze and gave Seth a pleading look. "I never get to see you anymore. It fucking sucks. I miss you."

Seth chewed on his lower lip. Roman could see the internal debate he was having with himself. "Alright," he finally said. "I'll talk to Hunter. I think I've built up enough good will to get a couple days off."

"I think you've earned more than a couple." Roman let his hand slip under Seth's shirt, his fingers brushing over his stomach. He pressed his forehead to the younger man's, the tip of his nose lightly brushing against his. "Dad's coming back to work. I'll take some time off. You've got vacation time you have to use. Don't even deny it because I know you do." He pressed a light kiss to Seth's lips. "We can go somewhere. Anywhere. Just you and me." He kissed Seth again, a little harder this time. "You name the place. Anywhere you want. Just say it."

"Anywhere?" A smirk crossed Seth's face. He draped his arms over Roman's shoulders. "What if I said I wanted to stay home? Spend that vacation time naked?"

Roman smirked right back at him. "I could handle that." He kissed Seth yet again, smoothly sliding his tongue into Seth's mouth. Seth moaned, arching his groin against Roman's. Roman quickly slid his hand behind Seth, putting his hand on his ass to keep them pressed together. They really didn't have time for this. He could even feel Seth start to pull away to tell him that. But he didn't care. He kept his grip on Seth nice and tight, not letting him get away. Maybe they couldn't do everything he wanted, but they could still have some fun.

His free hand ripped open Seth's pants, freeing his cock from the confines of his slacks and tiny red briefs. He gripped it tightly, stroking firmly and quickly. "Fuck!" Seth's arched into his grip, forgetting his objections entirely. His own hands worked to unbutton Roman's jeans. Even with two hands he had more trouble than Roman did with his one. "Fucking god damn it..."

"I got it." Roman took his hand off Seth's ass to help him out. He freed himself from his jeans before adjusting them so his hand was wrapped around both of their shafts. He buried his face into Seth's neck as he stroked them both, sucking on the skin lightly so he wouldn't leave a mark. Seth squirmed and whined underneath him. Roman smirked and kissed his way up to Seth's ear. "That feel good baby?"

Seth just nodded. He rested his forehead against Roman's shoulder while his fingers gripped his shirt tightly. He wasn't being anywhere as loud as he normally was. Roman didn't think much of it. Seth was always quieter when he was tired. Poor guy was really working too hard. He needed to go easier on himself. Roman pumped his hand faster, bringing himself over the edge first before Seth followed. Not how he liked for it to go, but it didn't seem to matter to Seth. He went limp in his arms, his head staying on Roman's shoulder until Roman tilted it back.

"I love you."

"Love you too." Seth glanced down and made a face. "You got cum on my shirt you jerk."

"Whoops." Roman tried his best to actually sound apologetic. "Sorry."

"Sure you are." Seth rolled his eyes in total exasperation before breaking away from the embrace. "Ass." He headed upstairs to change. "Should make you pay for that."

"You should." Roman went to the sink to wash his hands. "Just don't think about spanking me alright? That got weird that time."

"That was one time! You don't have to keep bringing it up!"

Roman chuckled. Just knowing how embarrassed Seth got indeed meant that he had to keep bringing that up. That was just something he would ever get to let down.

* * *

><p>Dean rubbed his eyes as he stumbled down the hall to his apartment. He hadn't really slept at all. A gigantic energy drink had kept him up to get through work, but now he was just ready to crash yet again. Doing the early news broadcast meant he was done before lunch, though he couldn't even muster the energy to be hungry. He needed to sleep and worry about food later. Maybe he would even text Roman to see if he wanted to get tacos. He wasn't really anyone's favorite person to hang out with. Renee was the only other person besides Roman that he hung out with regularly, and she was now furious over the whole Regal thing too. But while Roman just threatened to murder Regal every chance he got, she just wasn't speaking to him now. Their fight before the silent treatment had been pretty nasty, both of them throwing every nasty insult and dig at each other that they could because she thought he was an idiot and he always got so defensive when it came to his choices. He felt bad about it, but he wasn't going to apologize. He didn't ask for her "tough love" or whatever she was calling it. It was his life and he could do whatever the fuck he wanted.<p>

A surprise awaited him inside the apartment. Regal was at his kitchen table, absently flipping through one of his car magazines. Dean froze, staring at the older man in shock. Maybe it was the exhaustion kicking in, but he couldn't for the life of him ever remember Regal ever being in his apartment. Regal always refused to come over, basically saying that his place wasn't good enough for him to step into. And they never went to Regal's house, not even when Regal and his wife were going through one of their on the rocks phases. Both were things that had always bothered Dean. But here Regal was now, and he just had to grin. This was good. Very good. It meant that maybe, just maybe, he hadn't been talking out of his ass when he said Regal had changed. Maybe he wouldn't be the fool again.

"You don't have any books." It was hard to tell if that was a complaint or just an observation. Regal closed the magazine and pushed it away

"Did you really expect me to?" Dean put his keys down on the microwave and took off his leather jacket. He didn't take his eyes off Regal for a second. He had been letting his light brown hair grow out, which was a look Dean really dug. Not only did it actually look good, but that meant there was more to pull on. Admittedly, Regal pulled his hair more than the other way around, but that wasn't a detail Dean was really looking to examine too closely at the moment.

"You could at least keep a newspaper around." Regal uncrossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. "It's not like they're expensive."

"Not like I read them." Dean hung the jacket over one of the empty chairs. "I get to hear the news at work. I don't need to read it too."

"Fair enough." Regal motioned for Dean to come to him. The gleam in his eyes was one Dean knew all too well. He really hadn't come over to nag him about his lack of reading materials. He wasn't there to talk or visit. He had free time between classes and wanted to get laid. For the step forward that him actually being here was, this remained the same. Dean wanted to say something about it. He wasn't really in the mood. Not with how tired he was. But things had the potential to go better than before, so why do something to ruin it?

Dean walked to him and slung his arms around Regal's neck as he straddled his lap. Regal's left hand immediately slid up his black tank top, rubbing up and down his back. The other gripped a handful of Dean's dirty blonde hair. He didn't pull yet but that would be coming. It always did. "How much time do you have?" Might as well be blunt about this part.

"Don't you worry about that." Regal lightly dragged his teeth over Dean's throat to make him shiver. "Go to your room and get undressed. I don't care what you do with your clothes. I just want you on your knees in front of your bed."

Well this didn't take long. It never did. It never really helped Dean's case when he tried to convince Roman that Regal had more use for him than sex. And their...arrangement always got Roman riled up. But it was whatever. Being subservient was typically as far from Dean's thing as he could possibly get, but he made an exception for Regal. His willingness to do it made Regal give in to his pursuits in the first place. It got him what he wanted. It made Regal keep coming back. And it wasn't like it felt awful. Regal was really fucking good in the sack. So really, it wasn't like he was bad off or anything. He really wasn't.

He climbed off Regal's lap and went to his bedroom. He tossed his clothes carelessly as he stripped. By the time he was down on his knees, Regal was at the doorway watching him. "What? Enjoy the show?" Dean let a little smirk cross his lips. "I could have made it last longer for you."

"You were clothed long enough dear boy." Regal always spoke so quietly. So smoothly. So fucking hypnotizing. He closed the distance between them, his hands working to unbutton his black silk shirt. The look he gave Dean meant he didn't even have to say what he wanted next. Dean already knew. He unbuttoned Regal's slacks before hooking his fingers into them and his boxers. Regal's clothes went to the floor, not folded up all nice and neat for one. His hand gave his length a few good strokes before he reclaimed his grip on Dean's hair. Dean opened his mouth, moaning as Regal pushed his cock inside. He swirled his tongue around the head while trying to bob his head. Regal's grip didn't allow him to move. He was the one thrusting into Dean's mouth, setting the pace to what he wanted. Dean tried to just roll with it. He hollowed his cheeks as he sucked as hard as he could. His tongue ran up and down the length, the tip tracing the vein that ran along underneath it. Blue eyes looked up at Regal's face. Regal stared right back at him, his eyes glazed over with lust. "Such a bloody marvelous mouth," he praised. "Always better when you put it in such good use."

The (albeit backhanded) compliment made Dean's cheeks flush. His tongue teased the head of Regal's cock every time the older man pulled back. Every thrust in nearly made him choke, despite his efforts to keep his throat relaxed. Regal's fingers twisted more tightly in his hair. Eyes watered in pain, but he was still getting hard from the treatment. He tried to discreetly slide his hand around his dick, but Regal caught him all the same.

"Don't you even think about it."

Dean tried to convince himself that the sound he made was totally not a whine. Regal smirked and pulled away from Dean completely. "Get on the bed. On your hands and knees." He walked over to the black bag he had put into the room before Dean got home. He had one of the spare keys, which he used a lot more liberally than Roman ever did. "And make sure you close your eyes."

"Oh fucking hell man." Dean did what he was told, his sheets cold underneath him. He heard Regal rummaging through the bag. He wanted to look to see what he was doing, but didn't do it. It wasn't like he had to wait long to find out. Soon enough he felt the blindfold being put over his eyes. The handcuffs followed immediately after. With no arms to hold himself up, his head rested on the bed while his ass stuck straight up in the air. He squirmed, his body going into hyperdrive now that he was in such a vulnerable position. He shivered when he felt Regal's fingers trace up and down his spine, and yelped when the first slap connected with his ass. A second slap followed, this one harder than before.

"Look at you." Regal's fingers lightly caressed his cock. "I've barely done anything to you."

Dean buried his face into the mattress. Yeah, he knew he had it bad. He didn't need to be reminded of that.

The sound of his phone vibrating drew both of their attention. "I got it." Regal's weight left the bed as he retrieved the phone. Dean could hear him walking further away to get something else as well.

"What are you-"

The sound of a cap being popped off reached his ears. Lube. Well at least he planned to use some this time.

"Don't get that shit on my phone."

"I wasn't planning on it." The end of the bed dipped as Regal returned to it. "It's your boy." That was how he referred to Roman. "He wants to show you the ring he's giving Seth this weekend." He chuckled loudly. "He's actually marrying that little harlot?"

"What the fuck is a harlot?"

"What your mother used to be."

"Oh fuck you Regal." Dean tried to somehow wiggle out of the handcuffs. "Leave my mother out of this."

"Sorry." No he wasn't. He was a horrible liar. "But it fits. Do you want to know what I saw Mr. Rollins doing the other night?"

"Does it really fucking matter right now?"

"It doesn't to me." One of Regal's lubricated fingers circled around Dean's asshole. "But uh, given that I saw Mr. Rollins with another man when I was out for dinner the other night, you might want to make your boy rethink the whole marriage thing."

"Wait what?" Dean rubbed his face against the bed, trying to somehow push the blindfold off of him so he could look back at Regal. "What are you-" the rest of the question died on his lips as Regal pushed two fingers inside of him. "Fuck!" His mind went blissfully blank as his body rocked back against the digits. "Fuck fuck fuck." He swallowed hard and tried to focus on what had just been said. "What do you...fuck god damn..." he gasped and rocked back more. "What do you mean you saw Seth with another guy?"

"What do you think I meant? He was parading around uptown with another man. You ever heard of the Ortons?"

"No. Who the fuck are they?"

"Old money. Struck big in the oil and railroad industries when they first got started and dipped their toes in about everything since then. Randy Orton was the one he was running with. Not surprisingly, that little wanker is cozy with Seth's boss." He slipped a third finger inside of Dean, crooking them to find the bundle of nerves that made him nearly scream. "I knew his father from back in the day and the boy was a rat even back then."

"Are you being serious right now?" Despite having his own doubts about Seth, that didn't mean Dean wanted them to be true. Roman loved the bastard and this would just fucking kill him. "Don't fuck with me on this. This is fucking serious ass shit."

Regal slipped his fingers out and tugged the blindfold off of him so he could look right in his eyes. "I saw what I saw. Your boy is being played."

"Fuck." Dean took a deep breath. Regal really had no reason to tell him this, or even care for that matter. Hell, he didn't even like Roman. If one wanted to look too closely, it could be said that Regal was revealing this because he knew the pain it would cause. But at the same token, Roman HAD to know. No matter how much it hurt, he had to be told. Seth couldn't be allowed to do this to him. Hell, Dean wanted to get up and just go kill the fucker now. But Regal's hand against his back kept him in place. "Really?" He rolled his eyes as Regal grabbed his hips and positioned himself behind him. "You drop that shit on me and then still think you're getting some?"

"Yes." Regal smirked at the glare he got for that. "It's not like you can go anywhere." His smirk got even bigger. "I've got the keys, remember?"

Dean opened his mouth to say something nasty, but the words died as Regal thrusted into him. He groaned and buried his face into the mattress. Despite his desire to get free so he could at least text Roman, there was no way he was getting free. Not until Regal said so anyway. And despite now wanting to strangle the older man, it felt too good being fucked by him to really make him stop. Every thrust in hit his prostate, making him whine and moan and whimper wildly. Regal's grip on his waist tightened with every moment that passed. He was going to have finger shaped bruises again but he didn't care. He really didn't fucking care. He just needed to cum. His body begged for the release. And once he came, he could go kill Seth. Yeah. That was good. Cum and kill Seth. Cum and kill Seth. The perfect plan for his afternoon.

Regal's nails slowly raking down his back made him cry out. He closed his eyes, body jolting from how hard he was being fucked. He tried to beg for Regal to touch him. He wanted to feel his hand around his cock. He wanted to be stroked to completion. But the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. He just moaned out something that sounded like Regal's name instead. Regal only fucked him harder, his nails now digging into his sides. His arms were starting to go numb but neither of them cared. The frantic nature of Regal's movements meant he was close. Dean closed his eyes, trying to get lost in the sensations since he wasn't getting a helping hand. A few more brutal thrusts did him in, his teeth sinking into the sheets to try to muffle his yells. He felt a hand pressing into the back of his skull, suffocating him as his body continued to be pounded into. A hand finally wrapped around his cock, stroking him through his orgasm and beyond. He whined loudly at that. The hand that had been so craved was now the enemy. He was too sensitive to be touched now. But Regal kept going, not stopping because he whined and squirmed. He only stopped when he came, his nails raking down Dean's back one last time.

"Bloody hell..."

Dean couldn't agree more with that sentiment. The moment Regal pulled out of him he just collapsed down fully on the bed. Landing in his own cum stained sheets was not pleasant, but he was much too tired and lazy to even care. He closed his eyes, catering to the exhaustion that had been kicking his ass all day. He barely heard what Regal said. He barely even felt himself being wiped clean. The last real thought that passed through his brain before he passed out was simple.

He was going to kill the fuck out of Seth once he got his hands on him.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't strange to come home and find Dean in his house. Roman had given him a key long ago, so it actually happened somewhat regularly. What was strange was the look on Dean's face. Roman could normally read his expressions like a book, but this was a mix of too many things to really pin down. The pacing around though certainly pointed to him being anxious. The muttered curses meant anger. But the actual look on his face kept sticking out to Roman. It gave him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What's going on?" he finally asked.

Dean didn't immediately answer him. He did try though. His mouth opened and closed several times, the words failing him repeatedly. That didn't make Roman feel any better.

"What the fuck man?" Roman plopped down on the couch. "Someone didn't die did they?"

"No."

"Then what is it?" Roman frowned as Dean sat down in the nearby chair. "Come on. You're scaring me here."

Dean rested his elbows on his knees, hands pressed tightly together. "I uh...I found out something about Seth."

"Seth?" Roman's confusion only grew. "What about Seth?"

Dean winced. He clearly didn't want to say this, but that wasn't going to stop him. "He's not working late dude. He's been out with some fucker named Randy Orton."

Despite hearing the words perfectly, they didn't really process in Roman's brain. He just sat there, staring at his best friend in bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"

Dean let out a long sigh. "He's totally cheating on you." He rubbed his hands together before clasping his fingers. "I talked to someone who like, totally saw him fucking parading with this mother fucker. And I mean, it fits you know?" The words were coming out of him so fast that Roman couldn't get in to interrupt. "I mean I know his new bosses like him, but he's never been THAT good to be handed so much extra work. And like, not coming home until like what, two or three in the morning? Come on Ro. We've been so fucking blind to what's been right in front of us."

The words still didn't really register in Roman's brain. Seth with another guy? Seth cheating on him? No. There was no way that was happening. Dean had to be mistaken. "Did you actually see any of this?" he finally asked.

"I got sources."

"What sources?" Roman wasn't about to let him be cryptic here. Not about this. This was way too serious of an accusation to allow any bullshit.

"Does it really matter?" Dean rubbed the back of his neck. He was a straight forward as they came, so if he was beating around the bush, that meant he could have only heard it from one person.

"Fucking Regal told you that shit? And you believed him?"

"He wasn't lying dude."

"He lies all the time! He's like, famous for it!"

"What would he get out of lying about this though?"

Roman shrugged. He didn't know what ran through Regal's mind. He didn't want to know any such thing. All he knew was that he didn't trust that bastard as far as he could throw him.

Dean groaned, his eyes closing out of frustration. "Look man, I stopped by that law office just to see if he was there. Got told he was out."

"Could be out with a client. That doesn't mean anything."

"Or it means everything and he has some other dick in his mouth!" Dean wasn't going to let this go. Between believing anything Regal told him anyway, and just hating Seth in general, it wasn't a surprise that he was on the Seth being a cheating whore train. Roman wanted to keep calling him out. Say that Regal was wrong. Say that he was being biased. Say that he knew Seth better than him and knew Seth wouldn't do that. But now a new voice rose in his head. A voice fueled by paranoia that Dean had awakened. Seth did come home ridiculously late all the time. Working late was one thing, but Roman always went to bed late and Seth was never home until after. And a few times that he had woken up from Seth climbing into bed, the younger man's hair had been wet from taking a shower. He always said he needed it to unwind, so Roman had never questioned it. But what if there had been another reason? What if Regal had actually been telling the truth? Dean certainly believed he was, and this was some grade A shit that Dean wouldn't throw at him lightly. Dean knew far better than to do that.

"I mean...shit Ro, when was the last time you guys had sex?"

"I gave him a handjob this morning."

Dean wrinkled his nose at that mental image before shaking it off. "But when did you guys screw last? Or make out or do your usual mushy ass shit? I mean, he's always been a fucking busy little asshole, but he always found time for you."

"It's different with work..."

"Or he's getting other dick."

"Do you have to be so god damn crude?" Roman folded his arms over his chest and glared at him. "Fuck. We don't even know if you're right. Maybe Regal didn't see what he thought he saw."

Dean shrugged. "He said he was parading around with some fuck nut named Randy Orton."

"Those were his exact words?"

"Well he didn't say the fuck nut part..."

Roman kind of figured that one out all on his own. He ran his hand over his face and shook his head. "I can't just...this is gotta be a mistake. Regal either saw shit wrong or he's fucking with me because I tried to punch him in the face last time I saw him."

Dean winced, that memory just coming back to him. He clearly hadn't considered that one. "I don't think so man. I mean, I kind of took the blame for you doing that."

Roman frowned. "What do you mean you took the blame?"

Dean waved off his concern. "Forget it." he stood up and motioned for Roman to do the same. "We should just go stalk Seth. Find out for sure if it's true."

"Where are we going to start?" Roman made no effort to move just yet. "You said he wasn't at the office."

"We could drive around town until we find him?"

Roman groaned. "God fuck no." He pinched the bridge of his nose, not even believing what was about to come out of his mouth next. "Look. Just to settle this, let's" he couldn't believe he was about to say this "follow him tomorrow. We'll take the day off and do the stalking thing just so your boy can be proven wrong. How's that sound?" He really hoped his voice showed more confidence that this was a mistake because he wasn't sure if he felt that way. Dean bringing this to him was really fucking with him.

"Fine." Dean plopped back down and kicked his feet up. "I'm in."

Great. But now that lead to the question of what they were going to do now. Roman drummed his fingers against his legs, watching as Dean absently picked at a loose string on his jeans. "So can we circle back to you taking the blame for me trying to hit that fuck face?"

"No," Dean refused. "We can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"Dean," Roman said sharply. "What did you do?"

Dean just shrugged.

"God damn it dude. Don't make me fucking ask him."

"Don't man. Just don't."

"Then tell me. Or I will fucking get at him for it." Roman wasn't kidding. His determination to get at Regal for making Dean his puppet had led to a very ugly confrontation that ended in Roman taking a swing at him. He had missed, mostly because Dean had interfered. Regal had stormed off, Dean gave chase and then showed back up a week later, having been dumped by the older man. At the time Roman had thought Dean had taken off for the week because he had been mad at him. Now he suddenly felt worried it had been for another reason.

Dean cringed. "I just um...I told him that I got mad and lied to you by saying he hit me."

"Has he ever fucking done that shit?"

"No..."

Grey eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Blue eyes shifted and refused to make contact.

"Son of a BITCH!" Roman was going to kill the fucker. He had said it before, but now he fucking really, REALLY meant it.

"I said he didn't!"

"You're lying!"

Dean threw his hands up in exasperation. "It was just the one time. So you know, I wasn't a complete liar."

"I don't care if it was just once! What the fuck is wrong with you when it comes to him?" That probably was the wrong thing to say, but Roman was too angry to care. "You're fucking better than this bullshit. You fucking have a laundry list of people that treat you better, but you still go back to him. And for what? What is so fucking fascinating about him that keeps you so god damn hooked?"

No answer came from Dean. He had nothing he could say that would make Roman understand. It was entirely possible that he really didn't even know himself. Roman didn't know, nor did it really matter. What mattered was getting Dean away from Regal for good. And if Roman could have his way, it would involve killing Regal and dumping him somewhere that nobody on the face of the earth would find him.

"What are you going to do if Seth is cheating?" Dean's question brought Roman back out of his thoughts. He stared up at Roman with a frown, his fingers still picking at the string on his jeans.

"There's no way he is man." Roman couldn't accept the idea. Even with the paranoia that Dean had woken up in him, there was no way his brain could fully even embrace the idea. Not Seth. Not his Seth. "I'll prove it to you tomorrow."

Dean didn't look the least bit convinced. "But what if he is? You can't stay with him. You deserve better than that."

Roman wasn't entirely sure if Dean needed to be giving him advice like this, especially considering the way he let himself be treated by Regal. But giving a response like that would only lead to a fight, which wasn't what Roman felt like dealing with right now. "He's not alright?" He started walking for the kitchen, now needing a beer. "He's fucking not."

"Whatever man," Dean muttered. He spoke so lowly that Roman just barely heard him. "Whatever you say."

* * *

><p>Seth didn't get home until after he fell asleep yet again, which didn't exactly set Roman at ease. He tried to act completely natural, not wanting to arouse any suspicion in Seth. It seemed to work, since Seth left the house without asking if anything was wrong. As soon as he was around the corner, Dean pulled up to the house so Roman could get in the car. For as ridiculous as Roman hoped for this whole scenario to be, Dean was just taking it that much more seriously. He had dressed himself in all black, even completing the look with giant black sunglasses on his face. An array of soda and chips sat unopened between them, which apparently were snacks for their stake out. "Really dude?" Roman had to shake his head. "This is really what we're doing?"<p>

"We gotta have snacks," Dean insisted. He quickly turned the corner, cutting off someone else so they could get Seth's car within their sights. "We're probably going to be in here all day and night."

"Or we just make Regal admit he was fucking lying." Roman reached down and snagged one of the Mountain Dews. "And then I just fucking kill him."

"He wasn't lying and you're not killing him," Dean snapped. "So just get that shit out of your head."

"It's fucking bullshit." Roman grabbed the pretzels Dean had brought along as well. "I mean really." He leaned forward and started messing with the radio. "I mean come on. Seth's a lot of things, but a cheater?"

"Why not? Orton's rich. I know he can't be as pretty as you, but like, rich bitches ruin a lot of things." Dean slapped Roman's hand away from the radio. "And stop that. I like this station."

"But I don't like this song." Roman tried to change it again, but only earned himself another slap. "Dude, if you fucking hit me again..."

"You'll what?" Dean swung his hand again just to be a shit. Roman immediately snagged it by the wrist and bit down hard. "OW!" Dean nearly jumped out of his seat. "That hurt!"

"Well I said quit hitting me."

Dean glared at him and tried to yank his hand away. "I think I'm bleeding."

Roman rolled his eyes. "You're not bleeding." He playfully kissed the spot that he bit before letting Dean have his hand back. "Better?"

Dean grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, but he didn't keep whining. Roman ripped open the bag of pretzels, munching on a few as they drove. They followed Seth to his office...and then kept right on going because Seth didn't even turn into the place. Roman nearly choked on his food. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dean stiffen right up. He shook his head and forced himself to swallow. "Maybe he's meeting a client before going in."

Dean chose not to reply. The excuse suddenly felt too weak to even dignify with a response. Roman put the pretzels aside, his stomach twisting too tightly to even think about still eating. He stared straight out the windshield, not really seeing anything they drove past. His mind was locked in a battle. On one side there was the fact that this didn't yet prove anything. Seth could be meeting a client for breakfast. He hadn't ate anything so it was entirely possible. The other half insisted that Dean and Regal being right was really an inevitable fucking truth. That he had just been so blind to the obvious signs and Seth had made a fool of him. Back and forth his brain went, until they were driving down a neighborhood that was way too nice to ever be in Roman's price range. Dean slowed down, letting them fall a bit further behind since Seth wasn't driving so fast. They watched Seth's car finally pull into a driveway, where a guy was waiting for him. Shaved down head, high cheekbones, lean but muscular, arms covered in tattoos...the inevitable truth won out. Dean pulled over in front of another house, giving them a direct view of Seth not only jumping out of the car, but the kiss that he and the other guy immediately greeted each other with.

"Mother fucker!" Dean gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Fuck fuck mother fucker!"

Roman couldn't even say a word. He just watched Seth and the man who was obviously Randy go into the house. His stomach churned, but his throat felt too closed up to even think about throwing up. His chest was tight, making it nearly impossible to even breathe. Everything sunk in now. Seth was cheating on him. Seth was fucking cheating on him. The man he had been ready to propose to was lying to him and fucking some other guy behind his back. Some other fucking asshole had his hands on Seth's ass, squeezing and groping so god damn fucking openly. Roman felt like he had been slapped. He wished he had actually been slapped because this just hurt so much worse.

"Fucking mother fucker. I'll fucking kill him."

"Wh-Dean no!" Roman tried to grab him, but Dean wasn't about to have it. He was out of the car and running for the house before Roman could get his seatbelt undone. Neither Seth or Randy saw him coming. They were almost in the house when Dean caught up with them. One hand shoved Orton into the house while the other grabbed Seth by the back of the neck, literally dragging him down to the ground.

"DEAN!" Roman nearly fell on his face as he scrambled out of the car. "DEAN DON'T!" It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the sentiment of Dean's need to punch Seth's face in. His loyalty and defensiveness over him was touching. But as angry as he was, as much as his heart fucking ached, Dean getting arrested for assault was NOT in his plans. So he ran, wincing as he saw Dean's fist coming down repeatedly on Seth's face. Orton was on his feet and grabbing Dean by the back of his shirt. Dean turned and swung at him, just narrowly missing as Randy ducked his head. Randy's knee came up and caught him in the gut, driving the air right out of him. Dean doubled over in pain made Roman move faster, his feet practically leaving the ground as he lunged forward. His fist hit Randy's face, his nose making a crunching noise as it broke.

"Roman!"

Roman's head snapped back to look at Seth. Seth's eyes were wide with shock. His face matched his eyes, though his expression also had something mixed in with it. Remorse? Or just the realization his jig was up? Roman couldn't tell. Clearly he didn't know Seth like he thought he did. His eyes narrowed and his mouth opened to say something. To ask Seth why. To tell him to be out of his house. To...to...well fuck, he didn't even know. His voice completely failed him. He just stared at Seth, heart pounding and chest aching and fuck, did he ever just want to throw up now.

"Mother fucker!" Dean snarled and lunged for Seth again. "Fuck you mother fucker! I'll kill you!"

"Dean!" Roman snagged Dean by the waist before he could make good with that threat.

Seth scrambled back, his eyes fixated on Roman as he tried to contain Dean. He didn't offer up an excuse. Didn't offer an apology. He just watched, waiting to see if Roman would let Dean at him. Blood ran down from his nose and even more came from his lips. Bruises were forming on his face and Dean was itching to cause more. Roman didn't let him though. He couldn't stand being there a second longer. He picked Dean up, literally carrying him back to the car. Dean's protests and Seth calling out his name fell on deaf ears. He just kept moving, needing to get away. Far, far away before he lost it completely.


	4. Chapter 4

Silence was not something Dean liked. He was a man who thrived off noise. It didn't matter what it was; silence just left him jittery and anxious. But even with the radio on and his nearly constant parade of swears, the silence from Roman was completely overwhelming. He hadn't said a word since they drove away from Randy's house. He just sat there, staring out the window with the most heartbroken expression on his face. Dean didn't know what to do. Punching Seth's face hadn't actually fixed anything. It didn't heal Roman's broken heart. Roman had been planning to propose for fuck's sakes. He had wanted to spend the rest of his life with Seth. And for as annoying as Seth was, for as much as Dean didn't like him, the asshole had made Roman happy. And now that had all been destroyed. Dean felt like such shit now. He wished he hadn't been right. He wished Regal had lied. Dealing with that was better than Roman being sad. Hell, anything was better than this.

Dean drove them to his apartment. It didn't feel like he should take Roman to his house. Not if Seth was going to end up back there. The two of them would have to hash it out eventually, but Dean didn't think it needed to be now. Roman wasn't ready for that. So he took him up to his place, practically marching the larger man there. Roman was still completely silent. He just let Dean guide him into the apartment, not giving anyone they passed along the way a second look. Most did a double take at them, making Dean shoot them a glare so icy they quickly looked away. There was no way he was even going to begin to tolerate anyone else's shit. No fucking way.

"Sit." Dean got Roman to the kitchen table and made him plop down. He went to the cupboard next. This was not the time for beer. Much stronger stuff was needed. He took out his bottle of Jack Daniels and two shot glasses. His knuckles were bloody but he merely licked them clean. The action should have gotten him a disgusted look from Roman. But there was nothing. It made Dean want to kick Seth's ass all over again. This wasn't what anyone should do to Roman. Roman fucking treated Seth better than the little fucker clearly deserved. He had been so in love with him. Gave him everything he had both literally and figuratively. And yet here they were, Seth just willing to throw it away. Dean didn't understand it. He didn't fucking understand. And he didn't want to. He really didn't fucking want to.

"Here." He went to the table and sat down across from Roman. He took the cap off the bottle and poured them both a shot. "Drink." He slid one over to Roman. "Drink and talk to me."

Roman drank, his nose wrinkling at the taste. "What's there to say?" His eyes stayed down at the table, shoulders slumped in defeat. "I just...I don't know. I thought we were happy." He chewed on his lower lip as the silence reared its head once more. "I feel so stupid. All those nights he didn't come home." He gripped the shot glass so tightly in his fist Dean feared it would break on him. "I just believed him so willingly."

"You didn't think you had a reason to not believe him."

Roman shook his head. "I was just blind. Like you said. You were right."

Dean wished he hadn't been.

He couldn't relish in being right like usual. He downed his own shot while his free hand rubbed his collarbone in a circular motion. It normally calmed him, but it wasn't having the same effect. "Do you...do you need to cry?" Dean tried not to look afraid as he asked that. The only thing he handled worse than silence was tears. Crying completely freaked him out, but what kind of an asshole would he be if he didn't let Roman do it? A pretty big one.

Roman rolled his eyes. "Don't look like you're gonna piss yourself man." He held out his glass. "Just pour me another."

Dean did just that. And then he did it again. And again. He lost track of how many he poured. Roman had infinitely more than he did. Roman was never one to do this. Drinking away problems was Dean's famous method of strategy. But Roman didn't seem to want to deal. He didn't want to confront Seth. He didn't want to go to the house that he had shared with the bastard. All it would be was a reminder that the life they had built together was a lie. So Dean kept feeding him the drinks, not drinking nearly as many himself in the process.

"Dean?" Roman nearly hiccupped right through the word when he finally chose to speak again.

"Yeah?"

"He hasn't called me."

"I know."

"He hasn't come looking for me."

"I know."

"He doesn't give a shit."

Dean winced. Roman's voice cracked there, which just fucking killed him. "Maybe he's just scared that I'm going to kick his ass again." He nodded, thinking maybe he would somehow be more convincing if he did so. "He's a fucking pussy man. Remember when I accidentally stepped on his foot and he like, screamed bloody murder at me?"

Roman's lips twitched. It had been hilarious at the time, though there was no way it would bring on a laugh now. Roman just held up his glass, wanting another drink. The voice in Dean's head told him it was probably not a good idea. He should take control and make him cut back. But Roman still looked so hurt. So broken. Dean had to give him another drink. And another. He fed him drinks until the heartbroken look was gone and a dull, glazed over one took its place. His body swayed in his seat, even as he tried to just stay still. "Come on." Now Dean didn't feel so bad for taking the bottle away. "You need to lay down."

Roman mumbled something Dean didn't catch under his breath. He reached out for the bottle and let out a string of curses when Dean didn't let him have it. "Come on man..."

"No." Dean got up and put the bottle on the counter. "You're going to hate me in the-fuck!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Roman nearly topple over as he tried to stand. He lunged for him, just managing to catch the larger man before he hit the ground. "Shit shit shit." He adjusted his grip, getting Roman back to his own two feet. "Ro? You alright?"

"Fine," Roman grumbled. His head flopped back, eyes half closed. "The room just is spinning." He winced and clung to Dean tightly. "Fucking shit. Make it stop."

Dean wasn't entirely sure how to do that. Getting Roman to lay down was the only thing he could really think of. "Come on." He started dragging Roman to his bedroom, nearly tripping and falling over his own feet in the process. He wasn't a weak dude by any means, but Roman was dragging his feet and making himself entirely not helpful. "Ro seriously." He moved one of Roman's arms to around his shoulders while he tightened his grip around Roman's waist. "Help me out here dude."

Roman didn't really listen. His feet kept dragging, his head dropping forward, making his long black hair drop over his face. Dean finally just said fuck it and put Roman over his shoulder, carrying him that way. He got him to the bedroom, depositing him on to the bed without pulling the covers back. "Shit." He tried to maneuver Roman around so he could cover him up, but Roman wasn't having it. His large hands grabbed Dean by the front of his shirt, pulling him right down on to the bed with him. "Shit!" He tried to sit up but just got pushed to his back instead. "Roman what the fuck?"

"Stay." Roman's arms locked around him and his head went to his chest. He nuzzled his face against Dean's shirt while his throwing a leg over Dean's. "Stay here."

"I hadn't been planning on going anywhere." Dean tried to wiggle around, which only made Roman cling to him all the more. "I just was going to cover you up you dumbass." He grunted at being made immobile. "Ro? Can you loosen up here bud?"

Roman's reply was a snore.

Dean sighed. "Oh jesus." He managed to kiss the top of Roman's head before relaxing and trying to make himself be comfortable. He liked to be the one doing the cuddling as opposed to being cuddled on, but for Roman he would make the exception.

* * *

><p>Roman's head was killing him by the time he woke up. Sunlight streamed in through the window, making him groan and bury his face into the mattress. Being flat on the bed instead of rested up on Dean's chest woke his brain up more than the sun did. Everything from the day before came rushing back at once. Following Seth, finding out that Regal was right...fucking Seth had cheated on him. His Seth. The man he loved. The man he had been ready to spend the rest of his life with. The man he would have died or killed for. None of that was returned. If Seth really had loved him, he wouldn't have done this to him. His stomach churned as the thoughts kept assaulting him. If Seth had been unhappy with him, why hadn't he said anything? Why hadn't he just broken up with him first before doing this to him? Did he really think he wouldn't ever find out? Or had he just not cared? Did he mean that little to him?<p>

Bile rose in the back of his throat, burning and begging to get out. Roman rolled off the bed and ran for the bathroom, making it to the toilet just in time. He dropped down to his knees, his chest heaving horribly as he threw up. He grabbed the edge of the toilet, fingers digging into the cold porclain. God this was awful. He wanted to just roll over and die. Over and over again he heaved until finally all the whiskey was out of his system. When he was done he just slumped over, too exhausted to do anything. Tears finally slipped out of his eyes. Fuck. He didn't want to do this. He tried to quickly wipe them away but they kept coming. Fuck. The thought of going home and facing Seth sounded just awful. He didn't want to do it. Not even a little. What was he going to do? Kick Seth out and live alone in the house that was meant to be for them? Sleep in their bed, alone and miserable while Seth just kept up his thing with Randy? The rational part of his brain told him he couldn't hide forever. Going home was inevitable. But he didn't want to listen to that. Staying here with Dean and getting shit faced again sounded like a much more doable plan.

He flushed the toilet and rinsed his mouth out as best as he could. The sound of voices reached his ears, providing him with a much needed distraction. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very nice one. Dean was arguing with a woman. At first he just assumed it was Renee or Maxine even. But this lady sounded older. And British. British...shit. It was Regal's wife. This was not good.

"You are such a bloody fool." Her voice was sharp, making Roman wince even though they were in separate rooms. "You really think just because he popped in for a shag that he wants to be with you?"

"What the fuck do you even know?" Dean snapped. He was clearly going into a pure defensive mode.

"What do I know? I know him! I've been married to that insufferable bastard for twenty years! Twenty years of my life and not for a single day has the man ever been faithful. Not to me and certainly not to you."

"He's acting different this time."

"But not because he WANTS you." Mrs. Regal's voice was taking an utterly nasty tone. "Not only am I leaving to go back to England, but his new prize Tyler is all bloody pissed at him. He-"

"What the fuck is Tyler?" Dean sounded almost scared to ask.

Mrs. Regal laughed. "You don't know? Tyler Breeze. Bloody fashion model that Regal has been parading around with for the past eight months. They've been photographed by the bloody paparazzi a whole bunch of times. Don't tell me you haven't seen them."

Silence from Dean's end. He didn't look at magazines like that or paid attention to TMZ and the like. He really was in the dark for that shit.

"Oh you fool."

"Shut up."

"The man doesn't love a single soul. He used me for my money. Tyler boosts his ego since you know, he is Prince Pretty and all. And you? You're the one he falls back on when all his options literally fail. The only reason he chooses you at all is because you're just so willing to let him run over you. He's all but said you're his favorite little whore."

Roman felt something snap inside of him at that comment. He stumbled out of the bathroom, head pounding from rage now as well as his hangover. He came to the living room to find Mrs. Regal standing by the door. She was in her forties, dull brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her face was sharp, cheek bones so high her face looked gaunt. Her eyes were zeroed in on Dean, looking entirely too happy that he was slumped on the couch in defeat. There was no bravado or argument. Her words had not only struck hard, but had hit what could be called a deadly spot. It only made Roman angrier.

"Get out." His voice was so low that he was surprised either Dean or Mrs. Regal heard him. Dean nearly jumped out of his seat though, cringing when he realized just how much Roman had probably heard. Mrs. Regal's eyes narrowed, which made him glare at her all the more. "Out," he repeated. He was not about to accept any kind of argument. "Now."

"Fine." Mrs. Regal still looked smug, even with being made to retreat. She had wrecked the havoc she wanted anyway. Out the door she went, slamming it shut behind her. Roman glared at it, fists clenched to his sides before he looked to Dean. Dean's head was bowed and he was chewing on his lower lip.

"Maybe she's lying." Roman didn't believe it, but he had to try to say it. Dean looked so upset that he had to try to make him feel better somehow.

Dean shook his head. He didn't say a word. He just got up and went to the bedroom, grabbing his phone off the coffee table as he went. Roman watched him go to the bathroom, wincing as he realized he was going to call Regal. He wanted to stop him. There was no way he wanted Dean even talking to the bastard. But his own phone rang before he could make the move to stop him. He took it out of his pocket, groaning when he saw it was Seth. He debated even answering it. He didn't feel ready for that conversation. But despite his own reluctance, his thumb pressed the button to accept the call. _Here goes nothing._

"What?"

"Where are you?"

"Where do you think?" The demanding question did not set well with Roman. After catching Seth like he and Dean had, an apology should have been the first thing out of his mouth.

"Is he going to kill me?"

"Why don't you fucking worry about me instead?" Roman began to pace back and forth. "How the fuck could you do this to me?"

"Ro-"

"No! I want to hear your reason." Roman tried to keep his voice down. He didn't want to have the whole building hear this. "I thought we were happy. I thought we were fucking happy. When the fuck did that change? Why the fuck didn't you talk to me?"

"I didn't know what to say!" Seth replied defensively. "And I just...I don't know. I got swept up in everything. Nothing felt like the right time or right place."

"So you just thought lying to me was the answer? You didn't think I'd ever find out?" Roman's voice was rising now despite his efforts to keep it down. "What did I do to fucking drive you away? Just what the fuck made you go to him?"

"I don't know..."

"No. You do fucking know Seth." Roman wasn't going to let himself be fooled again. He just wasn't. "What is it? Tell me the fucking truth. Was it the sex? His money? Was I just not enough for you? What is it?"

"Roman-"

"No. Tell me the truth."

"You don't want the truth."

"Tell me. Right now."

"Fine? You want the truth? I was attracted to him. He was attracted to me. He wooed me with all the fucking money and so yeah, I fucked him. And I kept fucking him because I liked it. I fucking liked it so much and it was fucking like...thrilling to sneak around. There. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Well at least you're being honest."

"Christ Ro. Just come home."

"Oh I'll come home. And you better not be there when I get there." Roman hung up on that note. He couldn't stand to hear anymore. He was too fucking angry. He wanted to throttle Seth. Or unleash Dean on him again. Anything to make him hurt as bad as his chest was hurting now. He threw his phone across the room, not giving a shit if it broke when it hit the wall. "Fuck!" He gripped his hair with both hands and closed his eyes. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Over and over again he breathed, trying to will himself into being in a calmer state. It was a slow process, but he managed to do it. He opened his eyes. Now that he wasn't on the phone, he could hear Dean's end of his conversation. From the sounds of it, it wasn't going any better than his just did.

"So that's it?" Dean growled. He had worked himself up enough to be angry without cracking at least. "You fucking kissed and made up with him and now you're going to Paris? What the fuck is in Paris?" Something smashed against the wall with a loud thud. Probably his fist. "Fashion week? Are you fucking kidding?"

Roman tip toed into Dean's room, finding him pacing around wildly. He was too riled up to notice Roman standing there.

"So like, what were you going to tell me if she hadn't fucking told me the truth?" He scowled and threw his free hand up in the air. "Yes! Yes it fucking matters! I'm fucking TIRED of fucking playing these fucking games Regal. You fucking said you wanted to be with me this time. You fucking just...fuck you. I'm not calming down." He scowled and kicked a old shoe across the room. "It's not fair you fucking asshole. You fucking always come back to me. Why can't you just fucking STAY for once?"

Roman had a few ideas of what Regal said next. All of them would get him killed the next time they crossed paths. The color drained from Dean's face and he hung up without another word. The phone dropped from his hand, bouncing harmlessly off the floor as he grabbed the bedside lamp and hurled it across the room. "FUCK!" The bedside desk went next, making Roman duck for cover.

"FUCK!" "Dean..." Dean didn't even acknowledge him. He just started punching the wall, a flurry of curses leaving his mouth. Roman let him do it for a moment, waiting to see if he would just let out his anger and stop. The punches only grew faster.

"Dean!" Roman grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides so he couldn't do it anymore. "Let go!" Dean tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

"Let go of me!"

"Sssshhhh!" Roman just hauled Dean up, picking him up while in the bear hug. "Come on." He started walking, not even really thinking about his plan of attack. He just kissed the back of his neck to calm him down and hauled him out of the room. "Come on. We're going for a drive."


	5. Chapter 5

The old drive in had been shut down for nearly five years now. Back in the day, it had been the place to go. Dean remembered how Roman's mother would bring them there every Saturday. Roman's mother hadn't seen his mom as fit to take care of him (which was true) and used the movie trips as an excuse for him to stay over for entire weekends. She would buy them bags of popcorn and candy and let them stuff their faces as they watched whatever movie they were seeing that night. Dean had been pretty bummed when they closed this place. The new movie theater they had built was pretty sweet, but this place always did had all the sentimental value for him. They had thought the place was going to be torn down, but it had still yet to be touched. That left it open for people to sneak into, which was where Dean found himself with Roman now. Roman had driven them there, wanting to take him somewhere that nobody else would find them. They were laying on the hood of the car, their legs hanging over the edge. Their heads were resting back against the windshield. Roman at some point had grabbed his hand. Dean tried to remember when it happened, but his brain came up with nothing. Oh well. It didn't bother him. It wasn't like anyone else was rushing to hold his hands. None of his relationships had ever had much in the way of touchy feely stuff. Not even the ones that weren't fucked up like his deal with Regal.

Regal. Fucking Regal. Dean groaned and tried to force all thoughts of him away. He didn't want to dwell on the fact that he had been made a fool of again. He had just let himself get wrapped up in Regal, despite knowing it never ended well. Everyone had tried to tell him not to do it. But had he listened? No. Of course not. He was fucking terrible at doing anything that was good for him. At least Roman wasn't the kind of person to throw it in his face. They hadn't talked about everything that had happened in the past day since they left his apartment. What was there to say? They both had been fucked over royally. The wounds were still fresh and raw. There was nothing that talking was going to fix. He had to break the silence though. It was too heavy between them. Roman was wallowing just as bad as he was and he couldn't allow that. "If cavemen and astronauts got in a fight, who would win?"

The very random question made Roman turn his head and face him with a frown. "This again?" His voice was much quieter and strained than usual. He was trying too hard to keep himself together. Forgetting that the life that meant so much to him meant so little to Seth was wearing him down. "The astronauts would outsmart the cavemen."

Dean rolled his eyes. "They wouldn't get a chance though. They cavemen would club the astronauts over the head with clubs before they could even think of pulling off any sneaky shit."

"Brute force don't always get it done dude."

"Says the guy who has won every single fight he's ever had with that very thing."

Roman's lips twitched. He couldn't really deny that one. "The cavemen would be slow and stupid. Even if the astronauts weren't tough, if they can keep away from the swing of their club then they could totally find a way to win."

"You think the cavemen would be slow and stupid just because they're not fancy pansy fucking astronauts? Fuck your stereotypes dude."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Whatever man." He moved his hand up, taking Dean's with him. His eyes narrowed and he made the same clicking noise with his tongue that his mother always did. He always denied that he did that, but Dean knew the truth. "You have to stop biting your nails. It's a fucking terrible habit."

"Eh." Dean had heard the lecture many times before. "It's not that bad."

"Is too."

"Is not." Dean decided to change the subject before the lecture could continue. "Milk, white or dark chocolate?"

"Milk. You know that."

"White and dark aren't so bad."

"I don't care. You just keep that shit away from me." Roman was trying to lighten up his voice. Maybe they threw themselves into this conversation hard enough they could just forget about everything else going on.

"Remember when we took that field trip to a chocolate factory?"

"How could I forget? We got suspended for wandering off and eating a bunch of shit." Roman's lips twitched at the memory. "Mom whooped my ass so hard when I got home."

"I think she whooped mine too."

"Oh she did not. You were the favorite."

"Was not. I wasn't even her kid."

Roman snorted. "Still was the favorite. All she said to you was she was really disappointed and you like, nearly cried."

"I did not!" Dean sat up and yanked his hand away from Roman's. "You are completely lying." He wasn't actually but that didn't mean Dean had to admit to it. Mrs. Reigns had been the mother to him that his own mother hadn't been, so when he was in trouble with her it had ultimately bothered him more than when it did with his own mother.

Roman tried to smirk. "So if I asked Jimmy and Jey how they remember it-"

"Super secret Samoan conspiracy," Dean snapped. "That's what that would be."

"Riiiight." Roman rolled his eyes. "Sure. That's what it is."

"It is!" Dean tried to shake some of the hair out of his eyes. It didn't really work. It never did unless he actually slicked it back. "Don't fucking lie to me man. I know what's really going on." He balled up his fist and lightly punched Roman's leg. "Jerk face. Fucking think you can lie to me?"

"Oh shut up." Roman punched him on the leg back. "There isn't a damn conspiracy. Stop being all paranoid."

Dean just grunted. He so was not buying that. "Where the fuck have your stupid cousins been anyway? Did they get eaten by a shark down in Florida?"

"No. They're fine. They'll be home for Christmas." The mention of home made Roman's face fall. All of Dean's attempts at distracting him were going to waste. Grey eyes watered and Roman blinked furiously so no tears would actually come out. "How am I supposed to go home?" His voice cracked at the question. "That was our fucking home. I'm gonna like, see him all over the place." He ran his fingers through his hair and bit down on his lower lip. "My family is going to ask questions. They're going to just poke and prod until I have to tell the story fifty million times over." He ran his hand over his face. "I can't do it." He shook his head and sat up. "I can't fucking do it." He pulled his legs up and tucked his arms underneath his knees. "I seriously can't fucking do it."

"So don't." Dean pulled on his arm so he could grab his hand and squeeze it tightly. That sounded simple enough to him. Of course, his situation was a little different than Roman's. Besides from the only man he had ever really called his friend, there was nobody he really ever had to answer to. His father had been out of the picture before he was born. He had a non-existent relationship with his mother. He didn't really know any of his aunts or uncles or cousins. A few of his exes seemed to give a shit, but Dean didn't exactly feel the need to answer to them about anything. "Just tell them to leave you alone."

Roman just gave him a look. "You know my family. When have they ever done that?"

"Maybe they should start."

"But they won't." Roman pulled his hand away this time so he could tuck his arm back under his legs. "I just...fuck. I just can't do it. They knew how much I loved him. Even if I get them to not bug me, they're going to just look at me with _pity_." His grimaced at the mere thought. "I don't know which is going to be worse."

Dean didn't know what to tell him. Both did sound just fucking awful. He couldn't let Roman go through that. There had to be a way to spare him.

"How hard did he deny it?"

Dean blinked at the shift in the conversation. "What?"

"Regal. When you confronted him about Tyler."

Dean winced. That was NOT what he wanted to talk about. "He just...he didn't." He chuckled bitterly. "Not really. I didn't let him." He looked down at his jeans and slumped his shoulders. "He was at my place just yesterday. He never fucking comes to me. Even when he starts it, I always have to go to him." He could feel Roman trying to make him look at him but he refused to meet his gaze. He was going to break if he did. "I just...fuck." He got off the car and brushed his jeans off. "It's stupid but like, I thought...I thought it'd be different this time." He kicked at the little pebbles on the ground. He still couldn't bear to meet Roman's eyes. He swore he could feel the look of pity that Roman didn't want from his own family and it made his insides twist into a knot. That look fucking sucked. "It was stupid. I'm stupid."

"You're not stupid."

"Yeah I fucking am." Dean kicked another pebble before finally making himself look at Roman. At least the pitying look was gone now. Roman wasn't going to let him catch him with it on. "Come on. You know I fucking am. I've always been with him."

"No." Roman stubbornly shook his head. "He's just an asshole. He knows how to play games. He fucking lives of it. He's probably doing the same shit to that Tyler fucker right now."

Dean highly doubted that. Tyler was clearly the new apple to Regal's eye. That left his wife as the safety net she always had been and as for Dean? He was what he would always be: the whore. Just like his mother, but he wasn't even getting paid for being royally fucked. That made him a stupid whore on top of it.

"Dean..."

Dean shook his head. He couldn't talk about this anymore. "Why don't we just go?"

Roman frowned. "Go? You mean like home?" He pushed himself off the hood of the car. "Jesus. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"No no no." Dean waved that off. "Not home. Fuck home." Going back to his apartment didn't appeal to him, much like how going home didn't appeal to Roman. "Let's just go."

"Go where?" Roman still wasn't getting it. "The bar?"

"No!" Dean threw his hands up and glared at Roman for not being able to read his mind. "Let's just _go_."

"Go where?" Roman glared at him in frustration. "Where would we go?"

"Away." Dean waved his hands all around as he tried to spell out his sudden idea. "Let's just stop at an ATM, get money and just go. We won't even go home to get our shit. We can just go. Hit the road. Go anywhere. Everywhere. Buy new clothes on the way. We could drive across the country. Or go to Canada or Mexico. Or like, even drive across the ocean to Hawaii."

Roman frowned. "Dean, you know you can't actually drive across an ocean, right?"

"Not with that attitude we can't." Dean put his hands on Roman's shoulders. "Your dad is going back to work tomorrow. He can take care of everything at work. Just say you had an emergency and you'll be back whenever."

Roman just stared at him. Dean could see the wheels in his brain turning. He was thinking this idea over ever so carefully. "What about your job?"

Dean grinned. That was a better response than a flat out no. "Who cares about that? I hate that place." He squeezed Roman's shoulders tightly. "I got some money stashed away. I know you do too. We can just take off for awhile."

"And go where though?"

"It don't matter! That's the beauty of it." He gave Roman a little shake. "We can just go. Fuck Seth. Fuck Regal. Fuck dealing with their bullshit." He looked at Roman desperately. "I can't fucking go home and sleep where he last fucked me. You can't stay in that house filled with that fucking lie he was letting you guys live in. Fuck that shit. We should just go." He swallowed nervously as Roman just stared at him. "Let's just go. _Please_."

The last plea did Roman in. He heaved out a sigh, thinking it over just a little bit more before nodding. "Okay."

Dean perked up. "Really?"

Roman nodded. His mouth was turning up into a little smile. The more he was thinking about it, the more he was starting to dig it. He didn't embrace the "fuck it all" mentality like Dean did on a normal basis. Dean figured it was pretty liberating for him to do so.

"Fuck yeah." The heavy weight of shame and regret was being pushed to the back of Dean's mind. Maybe this wouldn't actually solve anything, but fuck it. It sure felt like a solution to Dean at the moment. He slipped his hand into Roman's pocket and dug around.

"Hey!" Roman tried to step back. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Dean smirked and pulled the keys out of his pocket. "I'm driving."

"Oh fuck no!" Roman tried to snatch the keys back but Dean was too quick for him. "Dean no!"

"Dean yes!" Dean got into the car and started it up. The engine roared to life and he bounced in his seat excitedly. He could not believe he got Roman to actually agree to this, and he wanted to get started before he suddenly changed his mind. "Get in loser! We're road tripping it!"


	6. Chapter 6

The wind rushed into the car through the open window, whipping Roman's hair around until he finally found a ponytail to pull it back with. The radio blared a classic rock station as they drove north on the interstate. They had been driving for a couple hours now, leaving San Diego behind them in favor of...well Roman didn't know. Dean hadn't disclosed to him their first destination. Roman supposed that it didn't matter. The freedom of it just felt nice. Roman had shot a text to his family to tell them he was leaving, but hadn't looked at his phone since then. He didn't want to face the calls or texts questioning him on this decision. Or worse yet, he didn't want to look at it and see if Seth had tried to get a hold of him again. It was easier just to ignore everything and enjoy the freedom that was coming from just saying fuck it to everything. Fuck responsibilities. Fuck their stupid relationships. Fuck life trying to fuck them in the ass. They were so not there for that shit.

"Fucking cock sucker!" Dean pressed his hand against the horn as a car cut in front of them with barely any warning. "You god damn mother fucker! I'll fucking shove this car up your ass!"

"Dean!" Roman tried not to laugh. Laughing only encouraged him. But his road rage was so ridiculous that sometimes it was hard not to laugh.

"I'll do it." Dean was completely serious. His eyes were lit up in absolute anger and he fucking growled out his words. "I swear I'll fucking do it."

"That's like not even physically possible." Roman really didn't like being the bearer of bad news, but someone had to keep Dean straight on this subject matter. "No hole in the human body stretches that far."

Dean gave him an exasperated look. "You know what dude? I don't spoil your shit with stupid facts like that. You could show me the same decency."

"Sorry man. I just live to poop on the party." Roman moved his seat back so he could get a leg up on the dashboard. If they were going to be stuck in this car for awhile then he was going to have to stretch his legs out.

Dean frowned. "Why do you yell at me when I do that?"

"Because it's my car and not yours." Roman eyed the beat up pair of boots on Dean had on his feet. "Plus, those things are disgusting."

"Disgusting?" Dean cast a quick look down at his shoes. "No way man." He looked back up and switched lanes. "There's nothing wrong with them."

"When was the last time you cleaned them?"

"Why would I clean them? It's not like I've stepped in shit or anything." Dean pressed on the gas harder, speeding up until they were head to head with the car that had passed them before. He raised his hand and shot the driver the middle finger before speeding up even more and cutting him off.

"Dean!"

"What?" Dean tried to look innocent. "You act like I did something."

"If this mother fucker runs us off the road, I'm so kicking your ass." Roman cast an anxious glance back behind them. The guy wasn't racing to catch up with them, but he wasn't going to stop being nervous quite yet. "I just want you to know that."

Dean smirked. "Don't worry Ro Ro. I'll protect you."

"Fuck you. Don't call me that."

"Ro Ro."

Roman let out a loud groan. "Stop it."

"Ro Ro Ro the boat-OW!" Dean yelped as Roman punched him right in the arm. "Mother fucker!"

"Whoops." Roman shrugged innocently. "My hand slipped." He took a glance out the window. "Where the fuck are we going anyway?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know."

"You still haven't decided?"

"Why should I decide? Can't the open road just lead us wherever?"

"Didn't we end up at that terrible strip club last time you said some shit like that?"

Dean smirked. "It wasn't so terrible."

"There were cockroaches everywhere."

"I didn't see any roaches."

"There were fucking roaches everywhere and you know it."

"Not everywhere man. It wasn't like they were crawling out of the strippers' assholes or anything."

Roman looked at him in absolute disgust. He couldn't even speak he was so revolted. Dean smirked and turned the radio up, singing along to the Aerosmith song that came on the radio. Roman tried to shake off the memory of that terrible strip club. His phone was buzzing again, but he still didn't want to look at it. Instead he kept his gaze to the window, his fingers tapping against his legs. Being at the mercy of the wild hair up Dean's ass could lead them into all kinds of trouble, but whatever. He could deal with it. He just wished he had like a magazine or something to look at. Getting away from home was all fun and games, but if they were going to be on the road, they definitely needed to make stops.

"You really want to know where we're going?" There was a look in Dean's eye that told Roman he had known all along where they were headed. He just hadn't wanted to answer it straight away because he lived to be a difficult pain in the ass.

"Uhhh yeah. I didn't ask to hear myself talk."

"San Francisco."

Alright. Roman could work with that. "Any reason why?"

"I got shit to do there."

"Shit to do?"

"Uh huh."

"Like what?"

"Stuff."

"God damn it Dean."

"You're going to laugh at me."

"Why would I laugh?"

Dean shifted around in his seat and just looked sheepish. "You just fucking will."

"Why?" Roman wasn't going to just let this go. "Do you want to do dumb tourist shit? Because I like dumb tourist shit." He hadn't been to San Francisco since he was about ten, so his memories of it were fuzzy. "Let's go to Alcatraz. That shit is sweet. Or Lombard Street."

Dean frowned. "What the fuck is that?"

"Some weird twisty ass road that's like, impossible to drive."

"And you trust me to drive your car on that?"

"Hell fucking no. I'd be driving that one."

Dean made a high pitched, insulted sort of noise. "You don't trust me? Come on man!"

"Sorry dude." Roman wasn't too sorry though. Not with Dean's driving habits. "We should get some clothes too while we're there."

"But I hate shopping."

"Well we should have gone home and packed then." Roman was NOT wearing these clothes for this entire trip. He didn't care how much Dean bitched as they shopped. "Seriously dude, where the fuck are we going?"

Dean groaned. "San Francisco Creamery."

"...We're driving all the way to San Francisco to eat fucking ice cream?" Roman asked incredulously.

"Not just ice cream. The Kitchen Sink Challenge."

"The WHAT challenge?"

Dean sighed. "Just fucking wait and see alright? I saw this shit on Man vs. Food, so we gotta do it."

"I ain't doing shit man." Roman was not even going to play this game. Dean getting ideas from any TV show ended badly, no matter what it was. "I don't even like the sound of it." He shifted around in his seat. "It's not like, an actual kitchen sink full of ice cream is it?"

Dean just smirked.

* * *

><p>"Jesus fucking CHRIST!"<p>

Dean nearly choked at Roman's reaction. The San Francisco Creamery had been the first stop Dean had made, despite Roman yammering about clothes shopping and Alcatraz and having to go to the bathroom or whatever. This whole idea had come to him in the midst of driving, and he certainly wasn't going to back down from a challenge. Sure it was a challenge he had made to himself, but it was a challenge all the same. Roman had refused to even think about doing it, instead getting himself a mushroom Swiss burger and a vanilla milkshake. Dean deemed him a party pooper and went for the challenge. The place had a specially made "kitchen sink" that held three bananas, eight flavors of ice cream (in this case they were cake mix, cookie dough, chocolate raspberry cheesecake, vanilla, strawberry, pistachio, mint chocolate chip and chocolate peanut butter), eight toppings (caramel, pineapple topping, raspberry topping, rainbow sprinkles, Reese's peanut butter cups, chocolate syrup, blueberry topping and gummy bears), a shit tone of whipped cream, toasted almonds and cherries. It was the most beautiful sight Dean had ever seen in his life. Roman however, did not share his enthusiasm.

"Are you trying to make yourself sick?" Roman couldn't even believe what he was seeing. He had seen Dean get some whacky ideas before. He even had seen him put away an obscene amount of food. But this was such a combination of the two things that he didn't see how he could even do it. "You aren't not going to be able to eat that in an hour. No fucking way."

Dean raised his eyebrows. Was Roman challenging him? Out of everyone, he should have known better than that. "I so fucking can."

"Well you shouldn't then." Roman could barely take his eyes off the monstrosity in front of him. This was such a fucking terrible idea. Even if Dean could do it, the aftermath of it was going to ruin ice cream for the both of them forever.

"Well I'm gonna." Dean wasn't hearing another word on the matter. He had to do it now. He couldn't just accept Roman doubting him. It always bothered him whenever Roman doubted him. He didn't like being doubted in general, but there always felt like there was more to prove when he had to do it to Roman.

Roman just groaned. He knew by the look on Dean's face there was going to be no stopping him. He had to just accept the defeat and try to go focus on his own meal. Most of the people around them had their eyes on Dean. One of the workers was standing next to their table, explaining the rules of the challenge to Dean.

"You have to eat everything in the sink before the time is up. If it spills on the tray or the table, you got to eat that too. You can't have any help." The guy cast a quick look at Roman. "Any help gets you disqualified."

Roman snorted. Like he had any intention of helping.

"You can't leave the table once you start. You can stretch if needed. You can eat and drink anything off our menu along with this challenge. If you throw up during the challenge period you're disqualified."

"And if I win I get free ice cream for a year?" Dean had to clarify that one.

The man nodded.

"Uh...we're not going to be here a year..."

Dean rolled his eyes at Roman's statement. Nobody asked for those obvious facts. "Can I start?" He waved the giant spoon around, almost tempted to chuck it at Roman's forehead for shits and giggles.

"Yeah," the man confirmed. "Go ahead."

Roman nearly pushed his chair away from the table at how fast Dean shot out of the gate. He didn't think what Dean was doing could be legally called eating. He was practically inhaling the ice cream. How he wasn't immediately doubling over from brain freeze Roman didn't know. Maybe he just didn't have enough of a brain to be affected by it. The people around them cheered which just egged Dean on even more. Roman rapidly found himself forgetting about his own food and just watching Dean go. The way he shoveled it all into that stupid big mouth of his was both impressive and disgusting at the same time. His eyes went down to his watch more and more, looking at the time that was going by. It was going fast, but Dean was that much faster.

"HA!" Twenty eight minutes. That was what it took. Dean polished off the challenge and gave Roman the smuggest, most obnoxious cry of celebration he could manage. The people around them clapped, clearly impressed. Roman shook his head and looked at his watch. Now the question was just how long he could actually keep it down.

* * *

><p>The thrill of victory wasn't one that lasted as long as Dean wanted it to. Within minutes of leaving the place, they had to stop the car just two blocks away so he could puke in the bushes. Roman was standing behind him, grimacing and gagging because he handled this sort of thing badly. Dean tried to shoo him away but Roman stayed where he was, stubbornly trying to be the good friend. He hadn't even thrown in an "I told you so". Instead one of his hands was on the back of Dean's neck, his fingers lightly scratching his hair while the other had slid up the back of his shirt, rubbing circles across his lower back. Dean jumped at the gentle touch. He didn't exactly have people lining up around the block to take care of him when he was sick. If it had been anyone else he would have shoved them away and told them to fuck off. He wouldn't have trusted the intentions behind it. But it was Roman so he allowed it. It did feel nice, though he wasn't rushing to really admit it. Even after he stopped heaving he stayed doubled over, closing his eyes and relaxing more against Roman's touch. It felt like it should have been weird. Maybe it was a little weird. But like...a good weird. But that didn't make sense. He tried to shake off the feelings. It was just Roman. They had always had a touchy feely relationship with each other. It was comfort. Like chocolate or some shit.<p>

The last thought of chocolate made Dean gag. He opened his mouth and helplessly choked and heaved, finding himself unable to get anything out. There was nothing left. "Breathe man." The hand Roman had on the back of his neck moved, his arm wrapping around Dean's chest so he was holding him in a hug instead. "Just breathe."

Easier said than done. Dean tried anyway though, finally managing it. His legs shook underneath him and he leaned more into Roman's strong arm. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath.

"You okay?"

Dean just grunted. That was the best answer he could muster right now.

Roman sighed and started to lead him back to the car. "Come on. Let's get a hotel and clean you up."

"Don't got shit to clean up with," Dean reminded him.

Roman groaned, just remembering that he was right. "Well fine. Let's go get a room so you can lay down. I'll do the supply shopping."

Dean managed a little grin. No shopping in his future? Great. He would take that small victory and wear it proudly.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean groaned as he snuggled deeper under the blankets. Roman was out shopping, leaving him alone in their recently acquired hotel room. His stomach still felt awful, but he didn't want to touch the ginger ale Roman had given him before he left. He fucking hated the stuff. But Roman had insisted it would help him more than the Sprite Dean had wanted. Dean hadn't been up to continuing the argument at the time, but now he wished he would have. He was too lazy to get up now and get what he really wanted, which meant he either had to drink the gross shit or die of thirst. Neither sounded fun in his book. "Fuck," he groaned. He glared at the ginger ale like it was the devil before reluctantly opening it and taking a tiny sip. The taste immediately made his nose wrinkle. Damn it. He really did hate this. He forced himself to take another sip though before setting it on the bedside table with his phone and the TV remote. He had the TV on some entertainment news station. It was nothing he actually cared for, but he was too lazy to try to find something else. And there was the fear of accidentally stumbling across an eating show if he started flipping through the channels. His stomach couldn't handle that.

He reached behind him and fluffed his pillows before settling in more comfortably. He would totally have to change the channel before Roman saw what he was watching. There were certain choices of his that he could defend, but this was not one of them. He put his hand over his chest and drummed his fingers against it absently. The people on the TV were babbling about the winner of Dancing With the Stars. It wasn't a show he had ever actually watched. Renee and Maxine used to always try to make him sit down with them and watch, but he had refused. Why would he want to watch a bunch of people dance? He didn't get the appeal. He could probably dance better than all of them anyway. Roman claimed he couldn't dance; he said he just wiggled, which was completely and totally offensive to him. He did not wiggle damn it. He was a god damn good dancer, and to say otherwise was blasphemy.

Now if he could just get Roman to think the same way then life would be perfect.

"In other news, rising supermodel Tyler Breeze was seen in Paris with a rather dashing mystery man. The identity of the man is unknown, but our cameras were on the scene as he and Breeze arrived at their hotel."

Dean froze as images of Regal and some pretty blonde asshole filled the screen. That was Tyler. That was the latest person Regal had chosen over him. He stared at the screen, his stomach churning once again. No wonder he hadn't been the one chosen. Even with the obvious perpetual sneer going on, Tyler Breeze was a much prettier man than he was. He was a shinier toy for Regal to love. Add in the fortune and fame that could come with him, and there was no way for Dean to win. He couldn't offer any of that. His willingness to do anything Regal told him to kept the older man amused, but amusement only went so far. It didn't make him win in the end. And it never would.

He grabbed the remote and furiously changed the channel. Fuck it. He didn't want to think about this shit. That was why they had run off. It wasn't so he could have this lump in his throat, or have to furiously blink away tears. No. Fuck that. Fuck Regal. Fuck Tyler. Fuck everyone. He didn't need that shit. Not at fucking all.

Dean wiped his face with the back of his hand and kept flipping through the channels. He settled for reruns of Cold Case, and was halfway through his second episode when Roman returned.

"How are you feeling?" Roman asked before Dean got a word out.

Dean shrugged. "Better." He turned the TV off as Roman threw the bags down on the other bed. "What do we got?"

"Shirts, jeans, socks, underwear-"

"How do you know what size of underwear I need?"

"I guessed." Roman reached up and took his hair out of the bun he had it in. "If I'm wrong then you're buying your own or going commando."

Dean smirked. "Or I could just wear the same pair."

"Dude, don't be fucking disgusting." Roman reached into the bag and pulled out a leather jacket. "Here."

Dean blinked and barely caught it before it was thrown into his face. "Why do I need this?"

"We're going out."

"Going out where?"

"North Beach." Roman rolled his eyes at the look Dean gave him. "Come on dude. You need to eat actual food. Plus, I mean, we should just do something. It's got plenty of restaurants and clubs and whatever. We could have some fun."

"Alright alright." Dean didn't need more convincing. Sitting in a hotel room all night didn't really sound like that great of a plan. At least not when he was so closely removed from having a Regal inspired breakdown. If Regal wanted to go party in Paris with some stupid boy toy, then why shouldn't he go out and have some fun with Roman? Two could play this damn game. "Just promise me we won't go anywhere gross."

Roman smiled and held up his hand. "Scouts honor."

* * *

><p>"Scouts honor my mother fucking ass!"<p>

Roman barely bit back a laugh as Dean kept on grumbling. Their North Beach journey had led them to a place called Sushi Hunter, which was something Dean was not really happy about. Roman wanted to feel bad about taking the wheel like he did, but he hadn't been able to resist when they stumbled across this place. It had been ages since he had some good sushi, and Dean had promised him ages ago that he would give in and try it. Roman holding him to that promise got Dean in the door in the first place. He was pouting now though, which was not only funny, but actually kind of adorable.

_Wait...what? _

Roman quickly grabbed his drink and downed it to mask his confusion with his thoughts. Adorable? Dean's pouting was adorable? Since when? No. That was not what he thought. Not at all. Where had that even come from? That was weird. But it was true. It was true and that was throwing him off more. Dean had his arms over his chest, staring at his own order like it was going to come to life at any moment and attack his face. Roman had tried to get him to order something simple for his first time, but no. Dean had seen the words Dragon Roll and just ordered it without bothering to know what it entailed. Now he was staring at it like it was the devil.

"What the fuck is in this Ro?"

"It said tempura prawn, barbeque eel, avocado and tobiko."

"What the fuck does that even mean?"

Roman was NOT telling him what that last one was, even if his life depended on it. If Dean found out he was about to eat fish eggs, then his life as he knew it would come to an untimely end. "It's good alright? Just trust me."

"Then why didn't you get it?"

"Because I wanted to try something new." Roman looked down at his own roll. He had gotten a Lion King Roll, which was imitation crab, avocado, cucumber, salmon and spicy mayo.

"Trade me then."

"I'm not trading you. Just eat your own shit."

Dean groaned and picked up his first piece.

"Eat it all at once."

"What?"

"That piece. Don't take a bite. Just pop it all in."

"Why?"

"Because it's like sushi law or whatever."

Dean gave him an incredulous look.

"Plus it'll all fall apart if you eat it in more bites." Roman took his own piece and popped it into his mouth. "Just do it."

"Oh god help me..." Dean did what he was told, chewing the sushi warily. Blue eyes practically glared at his remaining food and Roman barely stifled a laugh.

"Well?"

"...Not bad..." Dean cautiously took another piece. "This toby shit is something gross though, isn't it?"

"Tobiko. And it's not gross. It tastes good."

"But you won't tell me what it is." Dean brought the sushi up to his face and examined it closely. "That means you're feeding me gross things."

"I am not!" Roman made sure to busy himself with eating after that denial. Dean would figure out if he was lying if they spent too much time on the subject. Considering some of the stuff he ate on a normal basis, Roman didn't feel like he should be in any position to call stuff gross. But he would. Nothing was gross until someone else tried to get him to try new things.

"I want to go to Vegas next."

The announcement didn't really surprise Roman. In fact, he was surprised this hadn't been said sooner. "So you can what? Gamble our money away?"

Dean gave him an insulted look. "I'm not going to gamble our money away. You act like I got some sort of problem."

"You do."

"No, you just think I do."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Can't we stay here for another day at least? We could go to Alcatraz-"

"Why do you want to go to that damn prison Ro?" Dean shifted around in his seat. "For fuck's sakes man. It's probably fucking haunted."

Roman raised an eyebrow. "Haunted?"

"Yeah."

"Are you serious?"

Dean just gave him a look. Of course he was serious. "I don't fuck with ghosts Roman."

"Oh my god Dean..." Roman ran a hand over his face. "It's not haunted. I swear on my life that it's not fucking haunted." He sighed as Dean looked completely unmoved. "Okay fine. No Alcatraz."

"Good."

"You're a big baby, you know that?"

Dean glared at him. "At least I'm not scared of heights."

"Well I'm not scared of spiders."

"You're scared of mannequins."

"Well you're scared of clowns."

"Fuck you man. Clowns are the god damn devil."

"I hope Twisty the Clown comes to get you when we go to bed tonight."

The mere mention of the very disturbing clown from American Horror Story nearly had Dean jumping out of his chair. "You take that back!"

Roman snickered. This was so mean but he couldn't help himself. "Nope. Never."

"Roman!" Dean smacked his arm, his expression one of complete distress. "Roman that's not funny. You take that back or I'm telling your mother."

"Oh for fuck's sakes Dean. He's not real. It's a damn TV show." Roman groaned as Dean still looked completely petrified. "Come on. You know I wasn't serious." He reached over and squeezed Dean's shoulder. "I'd punch any clown that would come at you."

Dean didn't exactly look comforted. "You're still an ass."

Roman pouted. Okay, maybe he had been too mean. Now he just felt bad. "I'm sorry alright?"

Dean glared at him.

"Oh come on! What else do you want me to do?" Roman took his hand off Dean's shoulder and looked around. Dean was probably going to make him beg for forgiveness in front of everyone and of course he would have to do it.

"Say we can go to Vegas."

This little weasel... "We'll go to Vegas."

"And you won't bitch if I gamble." Dean picked up a chopstick that he didn't know how to use and jabbed it at Roman's chest. "Say it."

"I won't bitch when you gamble."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"God damn right you won't." Dean turned his attention back to his food. "You know, this isn't too bad." He popped another piece of sushi into his mouth. "It's kind of weird, but not bad."

"So we can actually eat at sushi bars now?"

"Maybe. Until I find out what these things are." Dean poked at the tobiko, still wary of what it was. "Plus, I mean, you can't deny me greasy burgers forever. That is my shit."

Roman rolled his eyes. "That shit is going to make you die of a fucking heart attack."

"At least I'll die happy man."

* * *

><p>After dinner they found themselves just wandering the streets. Roman had thought they would end up in a club; it wasn't like there was a shortage of those in the area. But they stayed out on the streets, aimlessly wandering with their car safely parked back at the restaurant. Roman did most of the talking, pointing out things he saw. Dean just nodded along. The silence was a little concerning. At first Roman thought his comment from earlier was still bothering Dean. But that was too dumb of a thing. Besides, Dean wouldn't have dropped that one if that was still on his mind. Something deeper was at work here. Roman wanted to ask what it was. He almost did. But as the words started to come out of his mouth, he stopped them. They had avoided talking about anything truly serious since taking off. That was point of this whole trip. To just forget. That was what he needed to make Dean do. Just forget it. Whatever was weighing him down didn't need to matter.<p>

"Come here."

Roman's words made Dean blink. "What?"

"Come here." Roman grabbed Dean's hand out of the pocket of his leather jacket. "Let's go."

"Go where?" Despite his question, Dean didn't actually fight Roman. He let himself be turned around so they could start heading back in the direction of their car. "What the fuck are you up to?"

"I just remembered that I saw a bowling place when I was shopping earlier."

"...God damn it Roman. You really want to go bowling?"

"Well yeah." Roman raised an eyebrow and gave Dean a look that was a complete and utter challenge. "I mean, we could skip out if you're afraid I'm going to kick your ass that badly."

The words had the desired effect. Suddenly, whatever had been bothering Dean didn't matter in the slightest. "You think you're going to kick my ass?" Dean eyed him like he was crazy. "Really? You really think so?"

"Yep."

"Are we suddenly in an alternate universe where you're suddenly good at bowling?"

"Oh fuck you." Roman let go of Dean's hand and pulled him into a headlock. It wasn't like he was wrong though. Roman wasn't necessarily awful at bowling, but he wasn't actually good either. But that didn't matter. Dean's face had completely lit up and he was talking a mile a minute, going on and on about just how badly he was going to kick Roman's ass. He had wiggled out from Roman's grip to walk backwards in front of him, his leather jacket clad shoulders rolling and wiggling in a dance that he would deny having any knowledge of doing. His face had broken out into a wide grin, blue eyes sparkling and the dimple that hooked nearly every person he had ever dated fully on display.

_Adorable..._

There was that thought again. And Roman couldn't push it away this time. There was no logical reason for it. He had known Dean practically his whole life. And maybe he had just a few stray thoughts here and there when they had been teenagers, but his hormones had been all over the place back then. It hadn't meant anything. But the thoughts were here now, nearly knocking him over they hit him so hard.

_Oh holy shit..._

"Ro?" Dean frowned and stopped walking. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Roman didn't like lying, but he couldn't say any of this without making stuff really weird. There was no way Dean wouldn't find it weird. No way he would think remotely return any of those thoughts. "I'm fine." He turned Dean around so he could walk correctly. He didn't need to be tripping over his own feet and hurting himself. "Let's just go."


	8. Chapter 8

"My back hurts."

All Dean's grumbling warranted was a roll of Roman's eyes. They had left San Francisco upon waking up and were heading to Las Vegas. Dean had tried to get Roman to take the quicker way, but the longer route had been the one Roman had decided. Dean was fairly certain he did this just because he had beat him so bad when they went bowling. Roman denied it, saying that he wasn't the sore loser Dean typically was. Dean thought that was a load of horseshit though. No amount of arguing or whining was winning him anything. So he had to settle for pouting in defeat. He had pushed his seat back as far as he could and tilted it back so he was laying almost completely back. He had his feet propped up on the dashboard as well. But even with this position, there was only so long he could stay comfortable. They had been driving for several hours, which had gotten them from San Francisco to Sacramento, then to Reno. If Roman's GPS was correct, they had about another seven hours to go, which was just driving him crazy.

"You chose the wrong way."

"Why is it the wrong way? It's not like we're in a hurry."

"Vegas is calling my name Ro."

"It's a fucking city Dean. It's not going anywhere anytime soon."

Dean pouted. He knew that, but that wasn't the damn point. "We're like, in the middle of nowhere. What if your car breaks down and we get stranded? We'll die before we make it anywhere."

Roman reached over and swatted his chest with the back of his hand. "Don't you fucking jinx us!" He cast a nervous glance at the road around them. "God damn. If we break down now it's all your fault."

"No way." Dean was just insulted now. "That is bullshit Rome." He shifted around in his seat while drumming his fingers against his stomach. "It's too bad we don't got a TV in here. Fucking could use that shit right now."

"I could have grabbed my portable DVD player if we had bothered to actually pack shit." Roman switched the radio station,apparently not in the mood to deal with any breaks from the music. "We would have had to watch more than Point Break though."

"You don't need anything more in life than Point Break." Dean didn't even want to hear this blasphemy. "It's the greatest movie ever."

"Oh it is not!"

"It is too! Road House is the only one that can even begin to compare."

Roman rolled his eyes again. "Your Patrick Swazye obsession worries me."

Dean smirked. "It's better than your Bruce Willis one." He slipped a hand under his shirt to scratch at his chest and stomach. "I swear, every time we watch Die Hard you just stare at him like you want to suck his cock."

Roman's cheeks immediately turned pink. "Fuck you man."

"Would you ditch me to go off with Bruce Willis?"

"When would I ever be faced with that choice?"

"Just roll with me man."

"Well considering that you would have ditched me for Patrick Swayze if you had the chance..." Roman's voice trailed off and his eyes suddenly fixated on the bit of exposed skin that came with Dean's shirt riding up. Dean frowned, not getting it first. It was only after he started to poke Roman's arm and the other man quickly looked away that he realized how he had been stared at. "No." Roman spoke so the silence couldn't begin to turn too awkward. "I wouldn't ditch you."

"Liar." Dean moved his hand out from under his shirt but didn't fix the garment. He almost didn't believe Roman had been staring, despite catching him do it. Now he had to leave his shirt as it was just to see if he could catch him at it again. "You're lying to preserve your good guy image."

"Am not." Roman's eyes almost did flicker back to Dean's body, but he caught himself more quickly this time. "Just because you're an asshole who would ditch me doesn't mean I'm the same."

"Oh yeah?" Now Dean was offended. He sat himself up and leveled Roman with a glare. "Maybe I wouldn't actually leave you for Patrick Swayze. I mean, if he was alive, maybe I would totally choose you over him. And you would have to feel like a grade A asshole for not believing me."

"Sure. Whatever you say man."

"Yeah you better agree." Dean folded his arms over his chest and looked out the window. There really wasn't a whole lot to look at, but he found himself liking it just the same. It was nice out here. Secluded. It would be so far away from any and all bullshit of the outside world. It wasn't a realistic place to live, but for the people in this state it was just a drive away. "What if we never went back?"

The question caught Roman off guard. "What?"

"What if we just like...stayed on the road forever?"

Roman raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's really possible."

"Why not?"

"Well, believe it or not, I can't spontaneously start spewing money out of my ass. Eventually I got to get the fuck back to work." Roman took one of his hands off the wheel and rubbed the back of his neck. "Assuming my ass isn't fired for this."

"Have you talked to anyone?"

"I gave Mom a quick text telling her I was alive. I had to shut my phone off after because she blew it up." Roman glanced at the backseat, where said phone was sitting in one of their newly acquired bags. "Hell, forget what I said about being fired. Mom's going to fucking kill us both."

"That's if we go home."

Roman sighed in exasperation. "Dean, what did I just say?"

"We could settle down somewhere else. Some place nobody knows us." Dean moved his hand over his collarbone and started rubbing circles over it. "That wouldn't be so bad would it?" Dean dug his nails into himself as his hand kept moving in a circle. "You wouldn't have to see Seth again. And like, I already made myself look like a total fucking idiot with the Regal thing. I don't want to deal with everyone fucking giving me a bunch of looks when I get back."

"Why would they give you a bunch of looks? Who besides me and Renee knew you were together?"

"Nobody really but um...shit I didn't tell you." Dean let out a deep breath through pursed lips. "He was on TV man."

"Who?" Roman frowned in confusion. "Regal?"

"With that fucking Tyler guy," Dean confirmed. "Tyler fucking Breeze. He's a fucking male model Ro."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No dude! I was flipping through the channels back at the hotel and saw them on some entertainment news bullshit. He fucking left me for not just some pretty fuck. He left me for some pretty fuck that could like, give him the keys to the fucking castle." His hand moved faster, the subconscious action failing to calm him like it usually did.

"Well fuck him man. You don't need him. You can do better."

Dean snorted. Yeah. Right. Like he could do better. It was so easy for Roman to say. He would bounce back from his failed relationship with Seth. He was a great guy; people would trip over themselves to have him. But despite his many list of exes or usual hook-ups, Dean knew damn well nobody was tripping over themselves to actually have him. He could do the whole hooking up thing great. Go out for drinks, have a lot of sex-he was fucking fantastic with that shit. But when it came to anything that made a relationship deeper or more meaningful, it never worked. He either fucked it up by being an asshole, or he tried to get with someone who was an even bigger asshole than he was. And because he never seemed to learn from his own mistakes, everyone but Roman would just shake their head and tell him he was a fucking idiot who deserved it. And while he knew that, he had completely and utterly reached the limit that he could handle hearing it.

The car suddenly stopped, making Dean blink in surprise. He hadn't even realized Roman was pulling the car over. "Ro?"

"You can do fucking better." Roman reached over and grabbed the back of his neck so he couldn't try to look away. "You don't need him. You never did."

Again, that was so easy for Roman to say. Dean did want to believe him. He didn't fucking like screwing things up or being jerked around. He did want stability. He wanted someone to stick around because they wanted to, instead of it just being convenient for them at the time. But the only stable relationship he ever had in his life was actually with Roman. Of course, that wasn't a romantic relationship. Maybe that was why it even lasted. He was just only doomed in the world of romance.

The silence lingered on between them. Neither one of them was paying attention to what was playing on the radio. Roman's hand was still on the back of Dean's neck, squeezing to both comfort and keep him grounded. Dean leaned into the touch, the rubbing of his collarbone gradually stopping. He didn't say anything about agreeing, but Roman wasn't expecting him to. He just let his words be said and ruffled Dean's hair before letting go of him completely. Dean grumbled and swatted uselessly at his hand before leaning back in his seat. Roman pulled back on to the road and they were off once more. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. A nap would really be nice. But the combination of just coming out of his weird head space and a cramp in his leg made him sit back up and tap impatiently at Roman's arm.

"Pull over man."

"Again?"

"I need to walk."

Roman didn't fight him on it. He pulled the car over and barely had it in park before Dean was getting out of the car. Standing and immediately stretching his muscles felt amazing. Dean let out a low groan, twisting and arching his back every way he could. He heard the car shut off but didn't turn back to see if Roman was getting out of the car too. Instead he just walked forward, his first few steps awkward since he was still stiff. He moved his sunglasses down from the top of his head to over his eyes, letting loose another groan right after for the hell of it. What the hell did he care? Nobody but Roman cold hear him. He rolled his shoulders and arched his back again. He really should have thought through the whole sitting and getting stiff from being trapped in a car thing. Maybe he should have stolen an RV or something. He could have made Roman drive while he got to walk around the damn thing. Yeah. That would have been a good plan.

He turned back around and saw Roman standing by the hood of his car. The larger man was laid out on top of it, his shirt off and folded up so it could serve as a pillow against the windshield. He had put on his sunglasses and taken his ponytail out so his ridiculously majestic hair flowing underneath him. The sun shone down on him perfectly, making his muscles fucking gleam. Dean felt his breath catch in his throat. His eyes widened and it was all he could do to keep his jaw from dropping.

Roman was fucking hot.

It was a ridiculous realization. He had already known Roman was attractive. One would have to be completely blind not to know that. Roman had chiseled leading man kind good looks. But Dean had never truly realized just how hot he was. And he had no idea why. Did the sudden extended proximity of this road trip bring it on? Was it his own vulnerability? Was it the fact that for once he wasn't absorbed in some other dumb relationship and he could finally see clearly? Or was it a combination of the three? He had no fucking idea. And he had no idea how to even handle it. He had known Roman since they were five and Roman's head was too small for his ears and he was minus his two front teeth. This felt strange but not unpleasant. Dean was grateful for his sunglasses. They hid the fact that his eyes were slowly running up and down Roman's body. Roman was staring up at the sky, not noticing a thing. He had his hands folded over his stomach while his legs hung over the car. He was fucking ridiculous looking. He should not have been real. This was ridiculous and unfair and fuck, how had he been so god damn blind before?

"Dean?" Roman finally looked over his way. "You okay?"

Dean swallowed hard and fought to keep his voice sounding normal. "Yeah." He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked back over to the car.

"You sure?" Roman propped himself up on his elbows. "You look funny."

"That's just how my face looks." Dean stopped right in front of the car. He was still thankful that he had his sunglasses on because he did not want to explain why his eyes kept drifting down from Roman's face. "Isn't it hot to lay on that?"

"Eh..."

"Why'd you take your fucking shirt off you noob?"

"Pillow man." Roman reached up and patted his folded up shirt. "That's why."

"You have other shirts to use for that now..."

"I didn't feel like going back and grabbing one." Roman tried to scootch over to offer Dean a spot. All he managed to do was nearly go too far and nearly topple right off the damn car.

"Smooth move Romeo."

"Don't call me that," Roman huffed. "I was just trying to be nice."

"I know. Don't mean that it wasn't funny though." Dean finally made himself look just at Roman's face. He did not need to be caught looking, especially when they were so close together.

"You know, he was always jealous of you."

"Who?"

"Seth."

Dean gave him an incredulous look. "Why the fuck would he have been jealous of me?"

"Well uh, he always said I liked you better." Roman sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I always defended you when he complained about you. He always got so pissy about that."

"He was pissy about everything." Dean leaned against the car, his hands still in his pockets. "You said I could do better. What about you? I think you can do like, way, way fucking better."

"Yeah..." Roman bit down on his lower lip. "I just...I really thought he was the one you know? And he wasn't even really sorry for what he did. I can't believe I didn't see what an asshole he was."

"Love makes ya blind Romeo."

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"Sorry Ro...meo."

"Dean!"

Dean laughed and jumped back as Roman swung at him. The laughter soon died though and he found himself shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. "Ro?"

"What?"

"If I didn't go back, would you go without me?"

Roman blinked and took a moment to mull that one over. "Honestly? No."

Dean's expression brightened. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"But you said-"

"Yeah yeah I know." Roman got off the car and put his shirt back on (Dean barely hid his disappointment). "But I don't know what I'd do without you. Plus I mean, someone around here has to keep you out of trouble."

Dean pouted. "I can keep myself out of trouble..."

Roman snorted. "Yeah. And pigs are suddenly going to start flying out of my ass." He took the keys out of his pocket and tossed them at Dean. "Come on. It's your turn to drive."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I just want to thank you all for the responses I've been getting on this one. Next stop is Vegas, which should be a wild ride of shenanigans and uh, some other stuff that I've been itching to get to.


	9. Chapter 9

Dean booked them a room at The Mirage to stay in once they got to Vegas. The casino resort had a tropical island theme going on that absolutely astounded Roman. Outside the hotel were not only waterfalls, but a volcano as well. The volcano was set to erupt starting at six every night and went off every half hour until eleven. Right near the entrance was an atrium, a hundred foot dome that held a manmade rainforest. In the lobby was a 20,000 gallon saltwater aquarium right behind the front desk. Dean nearly had to drag Roman to their room after they checked in because he couldn't stop staring at all the fish. There were two pools, one more for the general public and the other an adults only one. The place was home to the Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, which was something they were not leaving until they went through it. It also had a spa, a salon, several shops, a tattoo studio (which meant Roman would have to watch Dean like a hawk so he wouldn't get a tattoo on his ass while he was drunk), three golf courses, several restaurants, lounges/bars and a casino that Dean tried to hit before they even got to their room. Roman didn't even understand how they got a room in this place until Dean admitted to cashing in a favor from Cesaro, who knew some of the people on the high end of the totem pole there.

"What the fuck kind connections does that asshole have?" Roman asked as they got into their room. It wasn't the fanciest one in the place, but they didn't need it to be. It had two beds and a good view, which was enough for them.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. Swiss Mafia ones maybe?"

Roman froze midway through putting his bag on the bed. "I don't think there's any such thing as a Swiss Mafia."

"Why not?" Dean threw his bag down on the floor and sat down on his own bed. "They could totally have a mafia."

Roman thought about arguing, but decided to just drop it. It didn't really matter anyway. He didn't care to know Cesaro's connections, nor did he want to know what kind of favor he owed Dean. A lot of the time when it came to favors between Dean and other people, they at one time involved something gross or illegal. A don't ask, don't policy was the best thing to go by. "Whatever." He put his bag down and collapsed on his bed. Despite the fact that it involved so much sitting, this whole road trip thing was actually kind of exhausting. They had stopped at a different hotel the night before, intending on getting a good night's sleep before finishing the trip there. However, Dean's insomnia had kicked in and his pacing across the room had kept Roman up. They had finally just hit the road again as the sun rose, which meant they pretty much had the whole day to do whatever. However, Roman was going to need a nap before he even thought of doing anything.

"Oh come on, don't fall asleep on me." Dean stood up on his bed and began to bounce. "We got to go gamble man."

"But I'm tired." Roman started to close his eyes but stopped when he saw Dean starting to jump a little higher. "Would you get down?"

"Why?" Dean kept right on jumping. He had a total smirk on his face.

"Because you're not a damn child. And you're going to jump on me."

"I'm not going to jump on you."

"I don't believe you."

"Well that's rude...and smart."

"Don't you-" Roman didn't get to finish his threat. Dean was already jumping towards his bed, coming down on him with a splash. The move drove the air right out of him. He tried to curse at Dean, but all that came out was a groan. He was so going to pay for that later. Roman didn't know what he was going to do to get back at him, but he planned on it being nasty.

"Fine. You be lame and nap." Dean kept right on smirking as he tapped his hand against Roman's cheek. "I'm going down to the casino."

"I hope you go broke," Roman managed to growl out.

"So rude." Dean got up and shook his head in disappointment. "I wouldn't wish that on you Ro."

"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't have jumped on me."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Big baby." He grabbed the hem of Roman's shirt and pulled it up. Without as much of a second thought, he planted a kiss right on Roman's stomach. Roman's breath caught in his throat and Dean froze, seemingly just realizing what he did. They stared at each other, a sudden tension filling the room. Roman's skin tingled where Dean's lips had been. This was...weird. But not as weird as it should have been. Which just made it even weirder. Why wasn't this weird? He had known Dean practically his whole life. And yeah, of course he had known Dean was good looking; he had eyes after all. But now there was tingling and stomach flips and a desire to pull Dean in for a kiss and he just didn't even know what to do with that. What if he was misreading the look on Dean's face? Maybe Dean was just giving him a strange look because he had one on his own face.

"I uh...I'm going to go." Dean broke the moment by looking away. "I'll be back in awhile."

Roman just nodded. He watched Dean go, letting out a loud sigh once the door closed behind him. There was a part of him that wanted to get up and go after Dean, but he resisted it. That would probably weird Dean out and he didn't want to do that. So instead he pulled the blanket over his head and passed out, his left hand subconsciously resting over where Dean had kissed.

* * *

><p>Smack!<p>

"Roman!"

Smack!

"Roman!"

SMACK!'

"ROMAN!"

"WHAT?" Roman nearly jumped out of bed to snatch the pillow he was being smacked with so he could shove it in Dean's face. It was two hours later and Dean had come back to unceremoniously wake him up from his nap.

Dean grinned, blue eyes practically twinkling he was so pleased. "I won five thousand bucks."

Roman blinked, taking that news in slowly. He was actually surprised that Dean had not only won, but he had the presence of mind to stop before he lost it all. "Really?"

"Yeah." Dean hit him with the pillow again. "Now come on. I want to go do some shit."

"Like what?" Roman grabbed the pillow as it came down at him again and snatched it away. "Another casino?"

"Nah. I got a better idea." Dean grabbed Roman by the hand and pulled him up off the bed. "Come on. Up up up."

Roman groaned, but let himself get pulled up anyway. A glance at the clock let him see that it was nearly noon. "We're getting lunch first, right?"

"Uh...I think after is a better idea."

"After?" Roman froze and gave Dean a wary look. "What do you mean after? Where do you think we're going?"

"Somewhere fun."

"And where's that fun place?"

"The Stratosphere."

"What the fuck is there?"

"...Stuff."

Roman didn't like the sound of that. Suddenly, spending a whole day at a casino sounded like a much better idea. "Dean..."

"Oh come on." Dean pouted as Roman started to drag his feet. "This will be fun. You trust me right?"

"Well yeah..."

"So come on. It'll be fun. Scout's honor."

* * *

><p>"Scout's honor my fucking ass!"<p>

Dean cringed as Roman came to a complete stop. Dean's idea had been to go to Stratosphere Tower to do the rides Cesaro had told him about when he had been there before. In particular, the Big Shot was the ride he had his eye on. But there was of course, a slight problem: Roman didn't really like heights. At all. Especially rides that took him up high. And with the platform they were standing on being 921 feet off the ground, the 160 feet that the ride would shoot them up would put them up over a thousand feet above the city. It sounded absolutely thrilling to Dean, but Roman was not only petrified, but now furious that Dean had kept it from him.

"I'm not getting on it." Roman refused to move as Dean kept trying to pull him. "No no no." You can NOT make me do this."

"Come on." Dean ignored the looks they were getting. "It's not going to be that bad."

"Fuck you man!" Roman's normally deep voice had taken a higher pitch in his panic. "You want me to fucking die? Because that'll happen. I'll get on that thing and then it'll fucking fly off the rails and then I'll fucking die."

Dean tried to hold back his urge to laugh. Roman got ridiculous whenever he got hysterical. "You're not going to fucking die dude. Just trust me."

"Trust you?" Roman's eyes narrowed. "I trusted you and you brought me here! I should fucking punch you in the god damn nuts!"

Dean instinctively put a hand down over his groin to protect himself. "Let's not do that."

"Then let's get the fuck back down from here." Roman tried to pull Dean away from the ride, but Dean wasn't about to have it. They did not come this far to chicken out now.  
>"Come on. I don't ask you for a lot."<p>

Roman glared at him.

"Do it for me?" Dean gave him the best set of puppy dog eyes he could muster and pouted his lower lip.

"Fuck you man. This is life and death and you're giving me that face?"

Dean groaned. He really hoped that giving him that face would actually work. "Come on Ro. I really want to do this. Just do this one for me and you can sit out of the others." He grabbed Roman by the shirt and gave him a little shake. "Do I got to get on my knees dude?"

Roman's eye twtiched. Dean shook him again, wondering if he wold actually have to get down on his knees like he had offered. Thankfully he didn't. Roman was never good at refusing him. Unless it was something really bad, he always caved. "I hate you so much." His voice didn't have the conviction he was going for. "If I die I'm going to haunt you forever."

Dean almost pointed out that he would probably die too if Roman did, but he decided not to bother. Instead he took advantage of the situation and dragged Roman to the line leading up to the ride. Roman was still muttering threats at him, all of them of the haunting or killing him variety. Dean ignored it, instead marching Roman to the ride when they were finally able to get on it. Roman's face paled as they strapped in and Dean started to feel kind of bad. "You know we're really not going to die right?"

"We better not or I'm going to kick your fucking ass." Roman already had his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"You're such a baby."

"I'm bringing a clown to your room and letting him murder you in your sleep."

Dean opened his mouth to try to talk his way out of those consequences when they were suddenly shot upwards. They were all the way to the top of the steeple in seconds, Roman screaming bloody murder. Dean laughed, partly in exhilaration and partly because Roman's reaction was inappropriately hysterical. From where they were he could see pretty much everything there was to see. "Rome." The ride was going partly back down and then going back up, the movements slower than before. It wouldn't be long  
>before they were safely back down on the ground. "Roman look."<p>

"No no no no." Roman kept his eyes shut, his knuckles white he was hanging on so tightly.

"Just look dude. It's awesome. Trust me."

"Fuck you man." Despite his words though, Roman opened his eyes. The view didn't go as appreciated on his end. He took it in for about two seconds before shutting his eyes again and moaning miserably.

Dean cringed. "So uh, riding the Insanity is out then huh?"

The response he got to that was a punch to the arm once they were off the ride.

* * *

><p>The whole riding crazy rides plan was shot to shit after they got off the Big Shot. It did however lead to the drinking starting early. They took a quick trip to Taco Bell to have something in their stomachs, though Roman really didn't eat all that much. He claimed his stomach was too upset to really eat. The claim of stomach problems died once they got to the hotel. They went to the Rhumbar, one of the bars located at The Mirage. The drinking started right up in earnest, Roman actually outdoing Dean for once. Dean bought all the drinks, trying to earn some brownie points after the whole Stratosphere deal. It was entirely likely that he would be feeling the sharp sting of payback for their earlier activities. That would be something he'd worry about later though. For now, he tried to just match Roman drink for drink.<p>

"We're doing what I want tomorrow," Roman declared. His words were starting to slur, his grey eyes becoming glassy. They were sharing a bottle of Jose Cuervo, which was going to do them in a lot faster than the cocktails they had started out with. "No more of your dumb shit."

Dean pouted. He wanted to argue that his shit wasn't dumb, but this wasn't exactly the best time to do it. "If you want to get back at me, just do it now man. Don't plot against me."

"I'll plot what I want," Roman declared defiantly. He poured himself another shot and waved the glass around towards Dean's face. "And you can't stop me."

Dean rolled his eyes as Roman downed that shot. "Fine. Do what you will."

"I will." Roman slammed the glass down on the table. "Bitch."

Alright, now that was going too far. "Slut."

"Whore."

"Cock knocker."

"What the fuck is a cock knocker?"

"I don't know! I got that one from you!"

"Oh yeah." Dean grabbed the bottle of tequila and poured himself another shot. "Douche nozzle."

"Cunt nugget."

Dean choked on the drink he just tried to take. He coughed and pounded on his own chest, desperately gasping for air as Roman laughed. The bastard. "You're not funny," he finally managed to wheeze out.

"I'm pretty funny," Roman insisted. He leaned back in his chair, coming dangerously close to toppling completely backwards before he managed to catch himself. "I'm fucking hysterical actually." He watched Dean as he kept coughing, the struggle to fully regain his breath still continuing. "You know what I want to do?"

"No. I can't read minds." Dean shrugged at the look Roman gave him. "What? You asked."

"Fucker." Roman moved so his chair was fully back on the ground. "Let's play I Never."

They usually did that with more people, but whatever. Dean wasn't about to turn this down. "I'll start." If Roman wasn't already drunk, he would have realized the smirk on Dean's face meant pure trouble. "I never screamed like a bitch on the Big Shot."

"Fuck you!" Roman's yell startled the people around them. He took a shot, making a face at the taste. "Fucker." He leveled Dean with a glare as he contemplated what he would say. "I never had sex in a church."

Dean groaned and took a shot.

"You really are going to hell for that one dude."

"If god didn't want me to get some then he would have struck me down before my pants were off." Dean leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. If Roman wanted to get serious with this, they would get serious. "I never have had my parents walk in on me."

Roman's face turned pink at that memory. "That shit was traumatizing you ass." He took not only one, but two shots to wash away that thought. "I never had sex with a girl."

"Laaaame." Dean matched Roman's previous two drinks. "Lame all around."

"You're lame."

"Like fuck I am." Dean tapped his fingers against the table as he tried to think of something to get Roman with. "I never saw my sister naked."

"That was an accident! And not even fair! You don't have a sister!"

"All's fair in love and war darling."

"At least I never walked in on my mom doing it."

"Fuuuuuck you."

"Payback's a bitch ain't it?"

Dean's eyes narrowed. The game was really on now. They went back and forth, polishing off the bottle with ease. As they played, tension began to rise. The same tension that they had felt earlier that morning in their hotel room. At least, Dean thought they had both felt it. It had freaked him out, and to be honest, it almost still kind of did. This was Roman. _Roman_. But here he was, staring intently at Roman's lips. Here he was, his heart and stomach doing flips the longer Roman kept looking at him. Here he fucking was, wanting to lean over across the table and fucking kiss his god damn best friend. He pictured doing just that and swallowed hard. He could do it. He was right there. But the fear of rejection gave him a rare moment of hesitation. This wasn't just some asshole that caught his fancy for a night. This was Roman. If he was wrong in thinking Roman felt the same way and ended up getting rejected...well he had no idea how he would take it. He didn't even know if he could take it. This would do him in even more than any of Regal's rejections.

"Dean?" Roman's voice was quiet. Almost too quiet. It took Dean a moment to even realize he had spoken.

"Yeah?"

Roman stared at him, eyes still glassy, but darkening all the same. Dean felt his mouth go dry and he tried to swallow.

"Rome..."

And suddenly it was Roman leaning over the table. His lips found Dean's, capturing him in a searing kiss. In that moment, it was like a fire had lit up inside of him. It started in the pit of his stomach and spread through his whole body like a wildfire. He moaned, nearly getting up out of his chair to deepen the kiss. The fire kept spreading, making his heart pound and his mind race. _Ohhh shit. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit._

It wasn't until their lungs burned and screamed for air that they broke apart. Dean gasped, his head spinning and reeling from the kiss. When he regained focus he saw Roman standing up. He was not completely steady on his feet, but that didn't stop him from grabbing Dean by the hand and pulling him out of his chair.

"Come on."

Dean followed, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. The walk back to their room was a complete blur. Their steps were clumsy, both of them nearly falling over several times. They caught each other each time though, laughing and stealing more kisses all the while. Any sort of hesitation was gone for now. They were too drunk and emboldened by each other to really think about feelings or what this could mean or anything like that.

Roman got their door open and Dean shoved him in, kicking the door shut behind them. Roman's back went against the wall and Dean kissed him roughly. Teeth and tongues clashed while hands wandered each other's bodies. Roman's hands found their way down to Dean's ass, pulling him even closer. Dean groaned and arched his hips forward. His head was spinning and he tasted blood. Whose it was he didn't know. He didn't care. All he could focus on was his rapidly hardening cock. He pressed himself harder against Roman, wanting him to feel it. Roman moaned and arched his hips up in return. He was just as hard as Dean was.

Roman pushed himself off the wall and they stumbled back to his bed. Dean landed on his back and immediately tried to roll himself over so he was on top. Roman wasn't about to give up his control though. "Relax." The command was soft but firm. "I got you."

Dean wanted to protest. How could he just sit still? His body was on fire. They hadn't even done anything but his entire body was burning. He had to do something. He couldn't just lay there. But as he opened his mouth to speak, he felt Roman's hands undoing his jeans. His breath caught in his throat. "Roman..."

Roman kept his hands moving, freeing both of their cocks a lot faster than he should have considering how drunk they were. Dean gasped as Roman pressed their lengths together, his hand wrapping around both of them. Roman stroked them furiously, his hips pumping into his own hand all the while. Dean nearly screamed right then and there. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. His hips bucked wildly, matching Roman's thrusts. Their foreheads pressed together, lips hovering closely without touching. Their breaths mingled together, their gasps and moans filling the room. Dean slid his hands up Roman's shirt and raked his bitten down nails over his back. Roman hissed and kissed Dean roughly. He sucked on Dean's swollen bottom lip while he pumped his hand faster.

"Fuck!" Dean threw his head back and moaned. It was too much. It was all too much. The friction, the fire, the heat of pleasure pooling in the pit of his stomach...but if Roman stopped now he would kill him. He knew that for certain. "Rome..." He groaned as he felt Roman's lips on his throat. "Rome..." He bucked his hips up faster. He was going to say something. It was in his brain. On the tip of his tongue. But they became lost as he tried to actually say them. "Oh god Roman..." Fuck. He whimpered and dug his fingers into Roman's skin.

Roman kissed his way up from Dean's throat to his jaw, sloppily kissing all the way across it before reclaiming his lips once more. His thrusts grew more frenzied, his thumb swiping across the head of Dean's cock. Any control Dean had left of his body was gone. He came hard, his moans swallowed down by Roman's kiss. Roman's release swiftly followed his, a garbled version of Dean's name passing through his lips. The arm that had been holding him above Dean gave out and he collapsed on top of him. They were both a complete and total sticky mess but both were too drunk to care. Dean wrapped his arms around Roman, holding him in place. Roman buried his face in the crook of his neck, his breathing soon evening itself out.

"Rome?"

The reply he got was a snore.

Dean rolled his eyes but didn't push him off. Instead he let his eyes slide shut, a ghost of a smile crossing his face as he passed out as well.


	10. Chapter 10

The throbbing in his head stirred Roman from his slumber. He didn't immediately open his eyes though. He stayed where he was, swimming in the sea of drowsiness and confusion that typically came when he was hungover. He was laying on something that wasn't just the bed. A person. Roman could feel the soft hair touching his face, which seemed to be pressed against a crook of a neck. The scent was nice. Familiar. Comforting. He buried his face deeper into it. This was nice. Much nicer than the thought of opening his eyes and facing the day. He shouldn't have drank so damn much. It always came back to haunt him the next day. This wasn't the absolute worst that he had been hungover, but it certainly was up there. He groaned and tried to ignore the churning starting up in his stomach. Things from last night started to float back into his head. They were fuzzy and having to trickle back into focus, but he hadn't done quite enough damage to wipe his slate clean. He remembered going to the bar still pissed at Dean. He remembered deciding to up the drinks from cocktails to tequila, which always made him so sick the next morning. He remembered getting into the drinking game with Dean. He remembered the burn of the tequila going down his throat rapidly fading away the more he drank. He remembered his eyes fixating more and more on Dean's face. The way his mouth moved, how his eyes lit up when he was being a little shit, how fucking cute he was, especially when that dimple was flashed...the more he drank, the more he noticed all of it. And the more he drank, the bolder he remembered feeling. He asked himself why he couldn't just act on the thoughts he was having. Dean's face was cute. And there was a look in Dean's face that was telling him to do it. He wasn't saying it, but Roman could have sworn that he saw that command in Dean's eyes. It became too much to resist and he finally just kissed him.

Roman's eyes suddenly snapped open.

Holy fucking shit.

He kissed Dean.

And Dean had kissed him back.

And then...well...

"Holy fucking shit," he said under his breath. He looked down at the still sleeping Dean, whom he was laying on top of. More things started coming back to him. The kiss being unlike any other kiss Roman had before. Stumbling back to the room. More kissing. Falling to the bed. Their cocks pressed together. His hand stroking them furiously, his hips pumping...holy shit. Roman felt his body flush at the memory. Even with his memory still not being the clearest, the intensity of their encounter wasn't totally lost on him now. "Holy fucking shit," he repeated. Even with the liquid courage, he still couldn't believe he had done that with Dean. He didn't feel a rush of regret though. Just laying there on Dean had a sense of rightness to it that he had never experienced before. Not even with Seth. But if Dean regretted it...well he didn't know what would happen. He didn't want things to be weird between them. Dean was his best friend. He couldn't have things not be right with them.

Roman carefully got out of bed so he wouldn't wake up Dean. His nose wrinkled as he saw that their clothes were covered in cum. The jeans maybe could be saved; the shirts though, were completely fucked. He peeled his soiled clothes off and let them drop down to the floor. He walked to the bathroom naked and got into the shower. He blasted the water as hot as he could, the near scalding water feeling good against his skin. It wasn't going to help his head or stomach, but it felt good to be clean. He stayed in there for awhile, scrubbing himself down real good before getting back out. He toweled himself off and wrapped it around his waist before leaving the bathroom to get clean clothes.

"Ro?"

Roman froze as he went to his suitcase and looked up. Dean was awake, sitting up and still dressed in his cum covered clothes. He had tucked his dick back into his pants, a fact that Roman found himself disappointed with. "Hey." He wasn't sure what else to start with.

"Hey." Dean's eyes immediately trailed over Roman's body, stopping at his towel covered waist. His tongue flicked across his bottom lip and Roman immediately felt his face flush.

"You uh...you remember last night?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. "You were drunker than I was. I should ask you that."

Fair point. "Yeah. I remember." Roman waslked back to the bed and sat down at the edge of it. "I mean, it's not picture perfect with surround sound, but waking up in dried cum kind of makes it easier to piece it back together."

Dean started to laugh but quickly cut himself off. They sat in silence, neither really sure of how to go about this conversation. Roman rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He started the whole thing last night. He should be the one to say something. But where did he start? Did he apologize? He didn't really feel sorry that it happened. Not unless Dean was going to be upset about it.

"You um...what was that? Last night?" Dean finally broke the silence. "Why did you...do you...what the hell man?"

Roman felt his face turn red. "I uh...shit I don't know." He rubbed the back of his neck more. "I've been um...having some thoughts I guess. I don't really know like why now. After like, all these years or whatever. It's just uh..." he let out a nervous laugh. "Fuck I'm bad at this."

"Not like I'm better at it," Dean said with a shrug. He peeled off his shirt and threw it across the room. "I just uh...fuck I don't know man. I feel like I should be more weirded out than I am. Just because you know, you're Roman. I've known you since you were bowling shoe ugly and-"

"What?" Roman had to interrupt there. "Bowling shoe ugly? Are you serious right now?"

"Well yeah." Dean reached out and gestured at Roman's face. "When your mom made you keep your hair short it made your face look weird."

"No it didn't!"

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Denial is not just a river in Egypt you know."

Roman's eyes narrowed. "And my foot going up your ass isn't just going to be an idle threat."

Dean smirked. "I'd like to see you try."

That challenge couldn't go unaccepted. Roman lunged at Dean. Dean yelped and tried to get away. Roman caught him easily, pulling him back before he could get completely off the bed. "Cheater!" Dean slapped at his hands. "You are a god damn cheater!"

"Am not."

"Are too." Dean squirmed, not managing to get free. He did get himself turned around to face Roman though. "You god damn cocksucker."

"Those are fighting words b-hey!" Roman caught Dean's wrist as he tried for a slap. He pinned both above Dean's head, laying his weight completely across Dean's body. Roman swore he heard Dean's breath catch in his throat. Blue eyes widened and stared right up at Roman. Roman paused, his hair falling over and blanketing both their faces. His heart started to beat faster. Shit. Holy fucking shit.

"Rome?" Dean's voice was quiet. Almost scarily quiet.

"Yeah?"

"This...this isn't just because you don't got Seth no more is it?" Dean asked the question slowly. Cautiously. Almost fearfully even. Roman couldn't blame him or be insulted. Not with his terrible history in relationships.

"No. I wouldn't use you."

"Then why now?"

"I don't fucking know man. It just like...dawned on me in San Francisco that you're an adorable little asshole." Roman looked down at Dean worriedly. "Is this one sided man? You can tell me to get off if you want."

Dean swallowed hard. "It's um...not." He let out a bark of nervous laughter. "I like, nearly jumped you when we were out in the desert."

Roman raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well yeah. Fuck you for laying out on the car like some god damn glorious statue jackass. What the fuck is your problem man?"

Roman just laughed.

"That's not funny."

"It's kind of funny." Roman let go of Dean's wrists and started to get up. He didn't get far. Dean made his move, rolling them so he was on top with Roman pinned down to the mattress. "Whoa!" Roman looked at the dirty blonde in surprise. "Dean?"

Dean didn't say a word. His lips found Roman's, capturing them in a searing kiss. Roman's eyes widened, though his lips showed no surprise or hesitation. He returned the kiss, a spark shooting straight from his spine to every other part of his body. Any more thoughts of talking were going right out the window. Talking wasn't really getting them anywhere. They didn't understand the why nows and whatever. Maybe the whys didn't exactly matter. Maybe just running with it and seeing where it all took them was better. It certainly felt better at least. Of course, it was hard to have a more objective opinion with Dean's tongue sliding into his mouth. His hips were rolling, his groin grinding against Roman's towel covered one. Roman shivered and held Dean closer to him. Part of him wanted to roll them over so he was back on top. He resisted that urge though. Dean seemed to be enjoying himself up there. His hips moved faster, little groans and moans escaping him and mixing with Roman's. Roman fought to keep his eyes open, wanting to see the look on Dean's face. Dean's eyes were already shut, pink lips parted as he grinded harder against Roman. Roman could feel his hardened length straining to get out of his jeans and he groaned, raising his own hips to meet it.

A loud and sudden growl made them both pause. Roman broke the kiss, his eyebrows shooting up as the growl sounded again. "Are you serious right now?"

Dean grinned sheepishly as his stomach growled again. "Shut up man. I haven't ate since last night."

Roman rolled his eyes and tried to go back in for more kissing. Dean's stomach yet again though before their lips could even make contact. "Oh god damn it." He pushed Dean off of him. "Go shower so we can eat."

"I get to pick where right?"

Roman snorted. "After yesterday? Hell no. I pick everything and you're going to pay for it."

Dean let out a huff. "Why do I have to pay for it?"

"You still got most of that five grand don't ya?"

"Well yeah..."

"Then you're paying."

Dean rolled his eyes and shuffled towards the bathroom. "Take him on one little ride and he gets all pissy," he muttered under his breath.

Roman smirked. "That ride is going to get you a clown in your bed mother fucker."

"IT BETTER NOT!"

* * *

><p>After Dean got out of the shower they drove around, settling on a nearby burger joint to have lunch. While Dean continuously shoveled an obscene amount of French fries into his mouth, Roman scrolled through his phone. He deleted texts from Seth without even looking at them while telling his mom and cousins that while he was fine, he didn't know when he would be coming back. He still didn't say exactly what happened, just telling his mom that he and Seth were through when he saw that she tried to pull the "Seth's worried sick about you" card. Then he got on the internet, getting on Google so he could try to find some stuff that they could do. There was a part of him that was tempted to find something that would scare the shit out of Dean as revenge for yesterday, but he decided against it. Despite his threats of unleashing clowns on Dean, he liked to think he was the more mature one.<p>

Besides, he could just get Dean to eat more sushi and make sure he unknowingly ate more fish eggs. Secret revenge was sometimes better than the obnoxious kind.

The toe of Dean's shoe tapped against Roman's shin. He looked up from his phone to see that Dean had two fries sticking out of his mouth, the ends covered in ketchup so they looked like two extra long vampire fangs. "You're a fucking dork," Roman declared with a laugh.

"Am not," Dean mumbled. He tilted his head back and let the fries fall back completely into his mouth. He got a bit of ketchup on the corner of his lips but he licked it away as soon as he was done chewing. "So what the fuck are we doing?"

"You'll see," Roman replied cryptically. He looked back at his phone to try to actually find something.

Dean pouted. "You know it's not nice to keep someone in response." He tapped his foot against Roman's shin again. "Come on man. Tell me."

"You can be surprised." Roman scrolled through his phone faster, the words Exotics Racing catching his eyes. He clicked on the link, his eyes immediately widening as he saw what it was.

"What?" The look on his face was not lost on Dean. The blonde leaned over, barely avoiding getting his shirt dirty as he tried to snag Roman's phone. "Let me see."

Roman swatted his hand away. "You'll love it. Just hurry up and eat."

"But-"

"Do you trust me?"

Dean sighed in annoyance but nodded.

"Then trust me," Roman said with a grin. "This is going to be awesome."

* * *

><p>Exotics Racing was a racing school with an over thirty exotic cars available to race around the twelve mile track. It was a favorite among tourists and locals, with a friendly staff who either rode with someone as they drove, instructing them how to take the car to the limit or did the driving while the other person rode along. Dean all but shoved his credit card at the people, saving himself from trying to figure out how much he needed in cash. Roman smirked at the wide eyed expression on Dean's face. This place really was cool, though Dean looked like Roman just told him he could take all the cars home with him as opposed to just being able to take one for ten laps around the track.<p>

Of course, knowing Dean, he probably already had a plan for stealing all these cars to try to take with them. Roman just hoped he didn't see the plan in action and have to stop him.

"I'm gonna beat your god damn ass Rome," Dean declared. His ride of choice was the Corvette Stingray, a car he had been obsessed with since the first time they watched the movie Rush Hour. It didn't matter if the one available was yellow, a color Dean generally despised. Roman could already see the wheels turning in Dean's head. Steal the car. Paint it black. Enjoy. Roman felt himself sigh, knowing he'd have to watch Dean like a hawk until they were out of Vegas and away from the temptation of the car.

"Oh yeah?" Roman stood by his car, which was a Lamborghini Aventador. "You think so?"

"I know so." Dean was absolutely brimming with obnoxious glee.

"Twenty bucks says you're wrong," Roman challenged.

"Twenty bucks? That's it?"

"Twenty bucks and winner gets control of the radio for the rest of the trip."

Dean grinned, that god damn dimple suddenly making Roman weak in the knees. His mind was already trying to justify throwing the little race just so he'd see it again during the inevitable obnoxious celebration that came whenever Dean won anything. He could not do that. He could not do that god damn it.

"Rome?"

Roman blinked. "What?"

"I said deal." Dean smirked as Roman's face turned red. "What's on your mind Romeo?"

"Nothing." Roman would have smacked him if he was closer. "Just get in your damn car."

"Aye aye captain."

"You're a dork Dean."

"You love it."


	11. Chapter 11

"IIIIII am the chaaaaaampion my frieeeends."

"Dean please."

"IIII beat Roman's asssssss in the eeeennnndddd."

"Dean god damn it."

Dean grinned. He and Roman were just getting back to their hotel room, Dean having won the race quite easily. It wasn't a surprising fact. Dean was well known for being a demon behind the wheel. Roman should have known better than to think he could win. But whatever. That was his own fault. The important part was that he won. He won and everyone would know. He tried to take off so he could keep singing down the hall, but Roman quickly grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the room. "Hey!" He pouted as Roman shut the door behind them. "What the hell man?"

"You are so not doing that shit." Roman shook his head with a bemused grin. "My ears are bleeding man."

"Oh fuck you." Dean gave him the finger for that one. "My singing is fucking beautiful."

Roman just laughed. The bastard. Dean thought about throwing something at his head, but he decided to save that idea for later. It was always better to get him when he didn't expect it. So he just hopped on Roman's bed and began to jump.

"Hey!" Roman put his car keys and the hotel room key by the TV. "Fucking get down from there!"

"Why?" Dean jumped higher, grinning at the exasperated glare he got from Roman.

"You're not a kid you dumbass." Roman reached out to pull Dean down. "Come on. You're going to hurt yourself."

"No I won't." Just to prove a point, Dean leapt from Roman's bed to his own, easily making it squarely in the center of the matress. "See?"

Roman rolled his eyes. "Dean seriously. Just sit down."

Dean had no plans to listen. The jumping thing was actually really fun. He jumped back to Roman's bed before returning to his. Then he did it again. And again. Every successful leap made hm all the more confident. He jumped faster, laughing at Roman's concern.

"You're going to fucking hurt yourself..."

"Am-WHOA!" Dean overhshot his next jump, his feet hitting the far edge of his bed. He tried to rear back and regain his footing, but it was too late. He lost his balance and fell off the bed, hitting the floor face first. "OW!"

"Jesus!" Roman slapped a hand to his forehead. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Dean jumped back up to his feet and rubbed his face gingerly. That had hurt, but he tried not to let it show. His pride hurt more anyway. "I'm good."

Roman didn't look like he believed him. "Shit man." He grabbed Dean's head and made him tilt it back. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine Mom." Dean swatted Roman's hand away. "I've fallen harder than that."

"It usually ain't all on your face though." Roman grabbed Dean's head again so he could examine his face closer. "You're lucky you didn't break your neck or nose or some shit."

"Eh..." Dean just shrugged at that. He was pretty good at either not getting injured or just bouncing back from it with little problem. He was so resiliant that he liked to joke that if it came down to a nuclear apocalypse, he would survive among the Twinkiees and cockroaches.

Roman kept looking, taking his sweet time in choosing to be satisfied. Dean rolled his eyes, but his actions of annoyance were more empty than he tried to let on. There was a part of him that had always fluttered on the inside whenever Roman babied him. It wasn't something he really got from many people. Roman's mother did it, but she was like that to everyone. Roman did it more for him. Even more than whoever he was dating at the time. It was something that Seth always went nuts about, but nothing Dean had put too much thought into before now. Now he couldn't stop thinking about it though. With everything that had happened last night, he had to think about it differently. He was fucking feeling things for his best friend. He had totally hooked up with his best friend and he was tempted to do it again right in that moment. His eyes were focused on Roman's lips, which were just so close to his own. He swallowed hard and licked his lips. Roman smirked and laid a gentle kiss to Dean's forehead before planting one on his lips. It was soft. Almost too soft to be felt. But it radiated through Dean's entire body. He shivered and melted into it. He wanted to pull Roman closer but he couldn't move. The gentleness of the kiss had left him in a state of shock. This wasn't what people did with him. But Roman was. He fucking was and holy shit was it scary. If it had been anyone else he would run. He wouldn't trust it. But it was Roman. He trusted the slightly older man with his life.

Roman finally broke the kiss. "Let's go eat," he suggested, his thumbs rubbing gently across Dean's cheekbones.

"Again?" Dean cracked a smile. "Rome, I think we might be fat asses."

"I'm not a fat ass." Roman looked down at himself self-consciously. "It's just time for dinner." His eyes went to Dean's shirt. "You need to change though."  
>Dean frowned. "Why?" He looked down at the Kum &amp; Go t-shirt he had on. "What's wrong with this?"<p>

"Just put on something nicer." Roman pointed to their suitcases. "I know I bought some plain shirts. Put one of them on."  
>Dean just stared at him.<p>

"What?" Roman shifted around uncomfortably. "Don't look at me like that. The steakhouses in this place just look too fancy for you to be running around in a gas station t-shirt. That's all."

"Fuck you man. My style is awesome." Despite his own words though, Dean went to the suitcase to dig around for something nicer. The first thing he grabbed was a black button down shirt that he was pretty sure Roman had bought for himself. "Here. How's this?" He raised the garment above his head and waved it around. "Does this meet your approval Romeo?"

"It's fine." Roman ignored the use of his hated nickname in favor of trying to find a different shirt for himself. "Anything is better than the Kum & Go shit."

"You're the one who bought this for me!" Dean reminded him.

"Well yeah. If it's completely awful then I know you'll wear it."

"You're an ass." Dean whipped the shirt he was holding and slapped Roman in the chest with it. "I hope you know that."

Roman smirked. "I learned from the best."

Dean's eyes narrowed and he punched Roman in the arm. "I'll beat your damn ass Ro, I swear..."

* * *

><p>Dinner at Samba Brazilian Steakhouse was followed by hitting the casino. Roman tried to protest, but Dean wasn't hearing it. Apparently, it was against the law for them to ever leave Vegas if he didn't gamble too. Roman didn't think any such law was real, but Dean wasn't hearing a word against his own logic. So Roman had finally just given in, letting himself be dragged along on Dean's quest to teach him how to properly gamble. Thus far, it wasn't exactly going too well. For everything Dean managed to win, Roman lost it for them once Dean tried to give the reigns to him. He cringed every time, feeling bad because Dean was just so determined that he would be good. To Dean's credit though, Roman's losses rolled right off of him. He just grabbed Roman and dragged him to another table or machine. The grabbing started at the wrist, but quickly and seemingly unknowingly to Dean himself, went to Roman's hand.<p>

Roman looked down at their intertwined hands in surprise. That wasn't something Dean did. He couldn't think of a single time that he had seen Dean hold the hand of anyone he dated. But Dean had his hand now, and didn't seem to be too interested in letting go. Not that Roman really wanted him to. Shock aside, he liked the feeling of Dean's hand in his. He cautiously tightened the grip in return, his fingers moving to lace with Dean's. The fit was natural. He squeezed more tightly. It should have been weird. This was Dean. His best friend. How was he suddenly feeling these things for someone he had already known so long? It didn't make sense. But maybe he was just overthinking it. Maybe the why of it didn't matter. What mattered was what he was actually feeling. What mattered was that he could trust Dean. He didn't have to worry about Dean hurting him the way Seth had. Dean wasn't like him. He was better. For all his bluntness, for all the roughness around his edges, he was a much better person  
>than he or anyone else ever gave himself credit for.<p>

"How about blackjack?" Dean pointed to one of the few things they hadn't done yet.

"If you want," Roman said with a shrug.

Dean frowned. "Fucking shit Ro. Don't make me feel like an asshole."

"I'm not trying to make you feel like an asshole."

"If you don't want to play blackjack then say so." Dean waved his free hand around. "Fucking pick something else."

"I'm kind of sick of gambling dude." Roman looked around, trying to see something appealing in the place. "I'm going to fucking lose all we got if we keep going."

"Practice makes perfect..." Dean let that statement linger before sighing as he realized it wasn't really working. "Alright alright. What the fuck do you want to do then?"

Roman mulled that one over. There were a few things they could do. Try to sneak into a show they didn't have tickets for (though doing that here was probably harder than sneaking into the movie theater like they had done when they were two broke teenagers). Go to a club and get hammered again. Go back to their room and watch TV. Get in the car and just explore the city. All of these had their merits. But the more that he looked at Dean, different ideas began to take hold. He was looking just a little too good in the black button up shirt and jeans that were nicer than the baggy, ripped up ones that he normally wore. His lips looked awfully fascinating as well. His mind flashed back to the kiss they shared that morning. It jumped further back into what happened last night. Fuck. His face immediately flushed and he had to lick his lips. He knew exactly what he wanted to do.

"Come on."

Roman took the lead, pulling Dean towards the exit. "Let's go."

Dean followed willingly. They pushed past the people, making it out of the casino and back to their room as fast as they could manage it. The moment they got inside Roman had Dean against the wall, his tongue shoved halfway down the smaller man's throat. Dean returned the kiss eagerly, his arms going around Roman's neck. His fingers gripped Roman's hair, holding tight but not actually pulling on it. The little noises escaping him were going straight to Roman's cock. He pressed himself harder to Dean, wanting to get more of those noises. Dean gave them to him willingly, his hips arching forward to press his own hardness into Roman's. Roman's head felt like it was going to spin off his own body. His hands wandered all over Dean's body, ripping open his shirt so hard that some of the buttons went flying. "Whoops," he mumbled.

"Don't need it anyway." Dean pushed Roman back just enough to shrug the shirt off. His hands went to Roman's shirt next, tugging until Roman raised his arms so he could take it off. It went down to the floor next to Dean's. They were stumbling back now, Dean trying to get Roman to the bed. Roman agreed with the destination, but not with Dean keeping control. He spun them around and pushed Dean back on to the bed. Dean immediately sat up and Roman pushed him back down. "Relax." He climbed on to the bed as well, moving Dean up so his head was on the pillows. "I got you."

Dean frowned and tried to sit up again anyway. His hands reached for Roman's jeans, tugging until the button came undone. "Let me-"

"No." Roman moved Dean's hands away. "Not this time. I'm taking care of you."

Dean just stared at him like he was crazy. The look actually kind of hurt. It hurt to see Dean not used to the very idea that someone would want to give him anything. None of Dean's relationships had been that great, but Roman blamed Regal more than anyone else. The bastard had always just taken from Dean. He never gave him anything but false hope. Roman wanted to rip his head off and beat him with it but he couldn't. But he could do this. He would happily fucking do this.

Roman's lips found Dean's again, kissing him more slowly this time. The gentleness threw Dean off again, much like it had that morning. Roman didn't let that stop him though. He kept kissing him, his lips slowly traveling away from Dean's to go down the rest of his body. He kissed every inch that he could and it still didn't feel like enough. Dean squirmed underneath him, making him smirk. His hands worked on Dean's jeans, peeling them off slowly along with his boxers. They got tossed away in the general direction of their shirts. Roman took a moment to just let his eyes wander up and down Dean's now totally naked body. Shit. He should have started having these kinds of wants and feelings earlier. Dean looked damn good naked. He ran his tongue over his lower lip before moving his head back down. He started the trail of kisses back up at Dean's stomach. He moved slower now, letting his mouth tease Dean's hips before moving down to his inner thighs.

"Fucking jesus Ro." Dean watched Roman with wide eyes, his cock just begging for attention. "What the hell do you think you're doing down there?"

"Teasing you."

"Well stop that! You're going to fucking kill me or some shit."

Roman smirked. "Kill you huh?"

Dean nodded.

Roman's smirk got bigger. He pressed the flat of his tongue against the underside of Dean's cock and slowly licked upwards. His hands went to Dean's hips to keep him from bucking them up. When he reached the head of Dean's cock his tongue swirled around it, licking up the bit of precum coming from it. He slowly moved his mouth over Dean's length, his hand stroking the bit he couldn't get down his throat.

"Fuck!" Dean tried to buck his hips up despite Roman's grip. "Fuck fuck fuck." He gripped the bedsheets tight, his eyes fixated on Roman's head. "God damn it Roman."

Every move of his head upwards Roman's tongue teased the head of Dean's shaft, circling it and probing at the slit. And every move downwards he hummed, sending a blast of vibrations that rocked Dean to his core. He moved his head faster, the desire to tease giving way to the desire to drive Dean over the edge. He felt Dean's fingers tugging in his hair but he ignored the pain from that. He hollowed his cheeks and sucked harder, his ears perking up as Dean's breathing quickened.

"Rome...fuck...oh fuck..."

One of Roman's hands cupped Dean's balls, squeezing and rubbing gently while the other went down his own pants and stroked his cock furiously. _Come on Dean...come on..._

A garbled sound that Roman figured was his name flew off Dean's lips as he came. The look on Dean's face did Roman in. He came in his own hand, his groan being held back as he swallowed Dean's load. Dean went limp under him and he pulled back, the rush of air welcomed to his burning lungs.

"I...fuck Ro." Dean just stared at him, wide eyed and shaky.

Roman grinned. "Not bad huh?"

"You're a fucking glorious asshole."

Roman's grin got bigger. That was a compliment he was more than happy to accept.


	12. Chapter 12

"You know, you two can't keep running forever."

Roman sighed at Jimmy's words. He and Dean were at a rest stop, heading out east to...well to wherever. Dean was in the bathroom while Roman had finally answered one of Jimmy's calls. He wished he hadn't now. All he was getting was a lecture. Which was understandable sure, but he didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to be dragged back to the cold reality of having to go home. Here on the road, he and Dean lived in their own little bubble. Their problems didn't exist and they could freely explore this whole new turn in their relationship. Yes they had to go home, but not now. They could stay out for a little longer. "It's just...we'll come back. When we're ready."

"Your mother is about to start turning this whole country upside dude." Jimmy wasn't having that response. It was too weak for him to accept. "I need something legit to report back to her. Seth won't say what happened either and it's pissing everyone off."

"He...he cheated." Roman cringed at admitting it. "He fucking cheated on me Jimmy."

"...Are you fucking serious?"

"Dean and I caught him with another guy when he was supposed to be at work." Roman looked around and saw that Dean wasn't any closer to coming back yet. "And I just...I don't know. I was freaked out. And Dean's had some not good shit going on so we just bailed."

"God fucking damn it man." Jimmy let out a short laugh of disbelief. "That's...I'm gonna kill that mother fucker. I'm going to be in jail when you get home because that fucking little asshole is so dead."

Roman fought the smile that tried to cross his face. "Don't go to jail alright? We don't need that shit."

"No, I'm going to fucking do it. It fucking explains why Seth has been fucking avoiding us."

"Has he um, been living at the house?"

"He hasn't been there when we've gone to check on him. He could be shacked up with whoever his um...other guy is." Jimmy only let that uncomfortable thought linger for a half a second. "Why didn't you just tell us man? We would have understood if you needed to peace out."

"Maybe you would have. But everyone else would have been on me." Roman ran a hand over his face. "You know what our family is like. I wouldn't have been able to do anything without everyone up in my business and raining a pity party on me and just fucking giving me these looks...like I love you guys, but no. I can't deal with that. I need some time on my own." He leaned back against the car and stretched his legs out as far as he could in front of him without slipping down and falling on his ass. "Besides, we're having fun out here. You and Jey got to try this road trip shit."

"Man, Naomi would kill my ass if I just took off like that. I'd like to just stay alive, thank you very much." Even though Roman couldn't see him, he knew Jimmy was shaking his head. "So like, are you going out and banging a bunch of dudes? Because you totally should be."

Roman shook his head. "Nah man. Not a bunch."

"Oh come on! You gotta get some. "

"I've uh...gotten a little," Roman admitted. "Dean and I uh...well you're not going to believe this but uh...we've done some stuff."

"Wait wait wait wait." Jimmy did his best impression of a car screeching to a halt. "Back up. You and Dean? Are you serious man? How the hell did that even happen?"

"It just did." Roman didn't think Dean would mind him talking about this. It just felt like he had to tell someone. This whole thing with them was so new and it suddenly just wanted to burst out of him. "It's like...shit Jimmy, it's like I'm actually seeing him for the first time. It's weird. But it's not weird because it's Dean. Like, I don't know, I've been asking myself why haven't I done this before."

"Well shit." Jimmy sounded surprised, but not in a bad way. "I mean, we all like him better than Seth anyway, so if you want to bang him into the family-"

"Bang him into the family? What the hell kind of saying is that?"

"Mine. You're bringing him in via banging. Therefore you're banging him into the family."

"He's already a part of the family you idiot. I don't have to bang him into anything."

Jimmy sighed in exasperation. "Can you ever just roll with me on shit?"

"Not when it's that stupid." Roman saw Dean finally coming back and his expression brightened. He was lucky Jimmy wasn't actually there to see him because he would have surely laughed at him for it. "Look man, I got to go. Try to calm down Mom for me would ya?"

"Oh yeah. Like that's going to happen."

"Just try."

"Fine. But if I die I'm coming back as a ghost to haunt you."

"Deal." Roman hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket as Dean held out a bag of potato chips for him. "Thanks."

"Mhm." Dean let Roman take the chips before ripping over the bag of Cheetos he bought himself. "Who were you talking to?"

"Jimmy. I figured I couldn't completely ignore everyone anymore." He opened his chips and shoved a handful into his mouth. "Mom's probably going to kill me when I get home. You should probably enjoy me while you still can."

"Dude, she'll fucking kill me too." Dean hopped up on to the hood of the car and crossed his legs Indian style. "We'll have to kick it together in the fucking after life or whatever." He chewed on a Cheeto and mulled over that scenario in his head. "Dude. We could be like a couple ghosts and do the first ever ghost buddy cop film."

Roman just stared at him. He could not be serious. But who was he kidding. It was Dean. He was completely serious. "Dude no. That sounds terrible."

Dean looked insulted. "What? That's not terrible."

"It's totally terrible," Roman insisted.

"Why?"

"Because it is."

Dean glared at him and let out a huff. "Well fuck you man. I think it's genius."

Of course he did. That was exactly the kind of thing Dean lapped up without question. Roman just shook his head, his mind not changed in the slightest. It was just useless to keep arguing. "We should get going." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. "Did you decide where you wanted to go next?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't fucking care. You pick."

"I don't care either dude." Roman slapped the keys into Dean's hand. "Just drive. Go wherever and I won't complain." He pressed a kiss to the center of Dean's forehead. The gentle action startled Dean, which made Roman frown. He didn't like seeing that reaction. He didn't like that such a small gesture of affection was a foreign concept to Dean. He wanted to change it. He had to change it. He kissed Dean's forehead again, his lips lingering longer this time. When he pulled back he grinned, pulling a small smile out of Dean in the process. "Come on man. I don't give a shit where we go. Just get us somewhere."

Dean looked down at the keys in his hand. Roman could see the wheels turning in his brain. "Alright," he finally said.

"You got a place?"

"Denver."

"Really?"

"Well yeah. Weed's legal in Colorado. We could go get fucking stoned out of our minds."

Roman rolled his eyes. He hadn't even smoked weed since high school, and as far as he knew, Dean only did it once in awhile these days. ""Really man?"

"You said I could pick. And I picked." Dean opened the driver's side door and got in. "Now come on. We got like ten million miles to go still."

"It's not that many..."

"I'm not here to argue about my units of measurements Ro. Now let's go!"

"Alright alright." Roman laughed as he went around to the passenger's side. "I'm coming alright? Get your panties out of a twist."

* * *

><p>Three hours later Roman was passed out and Dean found himself humming and drumming along to the ACDC song playing on the radio to help keep himself from getting bored. This stretch of Utah wasn't the most exciting place in the world.

He wanted to wake Roman up so he could talk to him, but he fought the urge for now. It was nicer to just let Roman sleep. He looked so peaceful anyway. He had tilted his seat back so his head wouldn't fall forward as he slept. His hair was pulled back into a pun, leaving every inch of his face exposed. He was...well beautiful. There was literally no other way for Dean to describe him. He was actually fucking beautiful. Dean had a hard time keeping his eyes on the road. How was it even fair that Roman was that fucking attractive? It fucking wasn't. It couldn't be.

Dean pressed on the gas harder. There were no cops anywhere to be seen, so he could completely take the liberty of speeding. Of course, he tended to take that liberty anyway. But at least out here he didn't have to deal with Roman scolding and nagging him about road safety or whatever. Fuck road safety. Going faster also meant he was putting even more distance between them and home. He knew they would have to eventually go back. He wasn't blind to that fact. But he didn't want to face that reality yet. He was happy with it just being the two of them. Here it was safe. When they got home he didn't know what was going to happen. What if things fell apart with Seth and Randy and Seth wanted to get Roman back? It was doubtful that Roman would be dumb enough to forgive him, but there was an irrational part of Dean that made him insecure at the mere thought of having to compete for Roman's affections. He felt stupid for it, but he couldn't help it. He had never been as self confident as he liked to pretend to be.

Roman's phone going off inside the cup holder made Dean jump. He grabbed it, not even looking to see who it was before he answered the call. "Yo."

"...Dean?"

Dean's eyes widened. Son of a bitch. It was Seth. Think of the devil and he'll fucking appear. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Why did you answer Roman's phone? I thought he was gone..."

"I'm with him you stupid twat." Dean didn't bother to hide his seething hatred. He didn't have to now. "The better question is, why the fuck are you calling him?"

"None of your business." Seth's voice was tight and strained. He was upset about something. Possibly crying. He always whined and cried about something though so that didn't really surprise him. "Just put Roman on the phone."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You don't deserve to talk to him first off. Second of all, he's sleeping."

Even though Dean couldn't see him, he knew damn well Seth was scowling. "Fuck you. Don't tell me what I deserve."

"I'll tell you whatever the fuck I want." Dean was finding it hard to keep his voice down. The audacity of Seth had him completely infuriated. How could he think he had any right to even think about Roman after what he did? He had fucked Roman over for some asshole who in no way could be half the man Roman was. Roman gave Seth everything and Seth had spat on him. Mother fucker didn't deserve to have Roman speak to him.

"Just...just let me talk to him," Seth pleaded. "I want to say I'm sorry."

Dean's eyes narrowed. Seth wanted to apologize now? Something was up. Seth had been pretty unapologetic before. Roman had told him about the call he had gotten before he left and Dean had been disgusted by the display Seth had apparently showed. "Did Randy fucking dump you? Is that why you're fucking calling?"

Seth's silence confirmed just that. Dean found himself becoming infuriated all over again. How fucking dare he? How fucking dare he try to crawl back to Roman just because his boy toy had dumped his ass? Fuck that bullshit. Dean wasn't about to let that fly.

"Fuck you, you fucking prick." He didn't even try to keep his voice down now. He was far too angry to bother. "I wouldn't fucking let you talk to him if my fucking life depended on it." The hand he had on the wheel tightened up to the point he was making his fingers hurt. All he saw was red. How he wasn't crashing this car he didn't know. "You can just fuck off and go beg Randy to forgive you for whatever the fuck you did to him instead. You ain't fucking coming near Roman."

"Who the fuck died and made you the boss of him?" Seth snapped. "Jesus. You don't fucking own him."

"Maybe I don't own him, but he's _mine_. He's always been _mine_." Dean didn't even notice that Roman had woken up and was now listening to every word of his end of the conversation. "And you know what mother fucker?" He pulled the car over to the side of the road and put it in park. He couldn't keep driving now. He would absolutely end up crashing the car in his rage. "If you even think of calling again, I'll rip your spine out of your body and bash your head in with it. You fucking hear me you son of a bitch?"

Seth doesn't actually get to answer. Dean didn't really want to hear it. Instead he just hung up and let Roman's drop back into the cup holder. If it had been his he would have let himself toss it out the damn window. "Mother fucker!" He slammed his hand against the wheel, wishing that he could actually go and bash Seth's face in. It was what he deserved for his parade of bullshit.

"So...I'm yours huh?"

Dean nearly jumped out of his seat as he turned to face Roman. His cheeks turned red as Roman just grinned at him. Shit. He had fucking heard that. "I um...I..."

Roman didn't say a word. He just undid his seatbelt and leaned over, planting a kiss on Dean's lips. It was the complete acceptance to what Dean had said. He was Dean's. He wanted to be Dean's. Dean felt his heart do flips inside his chest and he couldn't even begin to speak. Maybe that was just as well. He didn't need to spoil a good thing by opening his mouth. So the words stayed buried and he just kissed Roman back instead.


	13. Chapter 13

Roman felt like a teenager all over again. They had found an empty park to stop the car in and had climbed into the backseat to make out. It was almost silly really. Roman hadn't done this since he was seventeen. But he couldn't even think of stopping now. Not with Dean in his lap, his hips rolling to grind their groins together. He groaned and tried to arch his hips up in return. His cock begged to be let out of his jeans. He could feel that Dean was just as hard as he was, which drove him even crazier. His hands slid under Dean's shirt and rubbed over his back. The backseat felt so small and cramped between the both of them, but that wasn't about to stop them from having at least some fun. "God damn Dean." Those were the only words Roman could think to say. They were appropriate enough though.

Dean whimpered and rolled his hips faster. His desperate noises were beyond delicious. One of his hands yanked at Roman's belt buckle while the other gripped Roman's hair. He yanked Roman's head back and started peppering his face with kisses. "Mine," he growled. Each kiss against Roman's face grew more and more forceful. "Mine. Mine mine mine." He kissed right across Roman's eyes when they closed before going down the bridge of his nose. "Mine. Not his."

Seth. Fucking Seth had riled Dean up. Roman hadn't needed to ask who Dean had been talking on the phone with before. He could tell just from the way Dean had been speaking. They hadn't really discussed why Seth had called. Roman wanted to make sure Dean was more than sufficiently calmed down before he even broached that subject.

"Mine." Dean's kisses moved to his jaw. Both hands were pulling at his belt now. "Fucking mine."

"Yours," Roman agreed. He pushed Dean's shirt up, wanting to pull it off completely. But Dean wouldn't lift his arms to let him do it. He was too busy finally yanking Roman's belt off and tossing it up on to the front seat. His hands ripped the button open next and yanked the zipper down. "Shit Dean..."

"Wanna taste you."

"I don't know if we got room..."

"We'll have room." Dean's tone left no room for argument." He moved off Roman's lap to pull the latch on the passenger's seat and push it up as far as he could get it. It didn't really go far, but it gave him just enough room to squeeze his way on his knees down on the floor. His hands went back to Roman's jeans, slipping in to pull his hardened cock. His hand wrapped around the base and he leaned forward, his mouth eagerly wrapping around almost the entire length.

"Jesus!" Roman's hips involuntarily bucked up. The head of his cock hit the back of Dean's throat and he watched his blue eyes water. Dean didn't pull back for a second though. Instead he pushed Roman down by the thighs and hollowed his cheeks, sucking determinedly Roman groaned and grabbed a handful of Dean's hair. He didn't move to control Dean's head. It bobbed eagerly all on its own. "Oh fucking shit." He had to fight to keep his hips from bucking again. He didn't want to be an asshole and choke Dean again. "God damn it Dean."

Dean hummed as what he took as praise. The vibrations went through Roman's cock and sent a shockwave through his whole body. Dean's tongue sloppily teased the vein that ran up on the underside of Roman's shaft. There was no real finesse in his actions. He was just sloppy and eager and that suited Roman just fine. His mouth still felt completely amazing. His fingers gripped Dean's hair more tightly. "Fuck Dean. That's good." He nodded eagerly to his own words. "Fuck that's good."

There was a lot going on in Dean's eyes as they looked up at him. Surprise at his praise. Lust. Adoration. Maybe some other shit. Roman couldn't keep his mind straight enough to identify it all. He hollowed his cheeks further, his head bobbing faster as he sucked harder. Roman's eyes fluttered shut despite his efforts to keep them open. He threw his head back and moaned loudly. He was so close. He was right there on the edge. His stomach muscles tightened and his toes curled on their own accord.

"Dean...shit...fuck I'm gonna cum."

Dean kept his mouth right where it was. One last hum and a swirl of the tongue around the head drove Roman over the edge he had been riding. He came hard, Dean's name mixed in with the string of curses he let out. He felt Dean continuing to suck, milking him until his body went limp and he whimpered from oversensitivity. He felt Dean climbing back on his lap but he couldn't immediately open his eyes. Every inch of his body was too lazy and spent to even think about moving.

"Mine." Dean claimed Roman's lips in a possessive kiss. "Mine," he mumbled again. He slipped his tongue into Roman's mouth, letting him taste the remnant of his own release.

Feeling Dean's hardness pressed up against him brought Roman's energy back. He moved Dean suddenly, laying him across the seat. One foot went down to the floor while Roman hooked his other leg around his waist. "Mine," he growled. His kisses swallowed the sudden whimper from Dean. "Mine." His hands tugged at Dean's jeans now There wasn't really room for him to return the favor exactly. Not in this position at least. But with the way Dean's cock twitched when Roman's hand merely brushed against it, there wasn't really time to shift around and get them in a position that would work. They would just have to make due with this.

"Fuck!" Dean gasped as Roman's hand wrapped around his dick and started stroking it. He tilted his head back, letting Roman's lips travel all across his neck. Roman's teeth nipped at the sensitive skin, leaving a path of bruises behind. "Fuuck Roman!" His hips bucked up into Roman's hand. "Fuck Ro. Please..."

"Please what?" Roman stroked Dean faster. He moved his head up so he could watch every flicker of pleasure cross Dean's face. "Tell me."

Dean whined and just arched into Roman's hand. It was close enough to an actual answer for Roman's taste. His hand moved faster, his eyes trained on Dean's face as he came. Dean's release coated his hand and shirt, which meant he'd have to dig out something to change but it was worth it. He waited until Dean's whole body went limp before pressing a soft kiss right between his eyes. He still had to clean off his hand and get a new shirt on but he wasn't ready to move yet. He was perfectly fine just where he was.

* * *

><p>"Dude, we're fucking lost."<p>

Roman's obvious statement was not exactly helpful. They were a couple of hours past from where they had pulled over to mess around. The stretch of interstate they had been on had been condensed to one lane, thanks to the fact that road work was being done on the other. Dean hadn't had the patience to wait out the traffic and had just gotten off at the nearest exit. He had figured he could take some side roads or whatever until they got a new way back on the interstate that would hopefully be past all the dumb road work. Only problem was, he had no idea where they actually were or how to get back to a main road. Roman's phone had died, which of course held the GPS they had been using. Go figure. "We're not lost," Dean insisted stubbornly.

"Oh we're not?" Roman raised his eyebrows. "Then tell me: where the fuck are we? Where's civilization? Because you've got us in like some backwoods type shit and this is actually freaking me out."

Dean scowled. "Just fucking calm down. There fucking has to be an entrance ramp to the fucking interstate somewhere around here."

"Dude, there is nothing here. Just trees and like some fucking deer." Roman leaned forward in his seat and slowly scanned his eyes along the whole area. "We are fucking lost."

They totally were. But Dean wasn't the type to admit that. Not when it was his fault. He should have toughed out the traffic but fuck, how was he supposed to know he'd get all turned around? "Well fucking shit. Why can't you have a car with actual GPS?" Shit. He did not need to start snapping and making things worse. But here he was, doing what he was a master of." "Who the fuck just has it on their phone? A phone you fucking forgot to charge mind you."

Roman's eyes narrowed. "I know you ain't trying to turn this around on me. You were the one who got off the damn interstate."

"We would have been stuck there for hours!"

"We're gonna get eaten by a damn bear or some shit now!"

"Maybe you are. I wasn't planning on getting the fuck out of the car so..." Dean stuck his tongue out to finish off that sentence. In no way was it mature, but fuck it. He had to end with something.

Roman rolled his eyes. "We got a find a gas station or something. Get directions back to the main road."

Dean groaned. He didn't like asking for directions. At all. It was a stupid pride thing, as it usually was for a lot of guys. He liked at least having the illusion that he had that kind of shit under control.

"I'll ask," Roman said in exasperation. "Just help me look for somewhere we can stop."

Dean didn't respond. He just gripped the steering wheel more tightly. Now he just felt stupid for managing to get them lost in the first place. His eyes scanned the area. Woods surrounded either side of the road. This fucking sucked. "Should I just fucking turn around?"

"Do you remember the exact way you came?"

"No..."

"Then no. Because I don't either and we'll just get more lost." Roman grabbed a hair band from his glove department and pulled his hair back in a bun. "There's got to be something coming up ahead."

He said that but it didn't seem like it would ever actually come to pass. Dean tried not to stare at the time as they drove. There had to be a place. Just anywhere. It didn't matter where. They couldn't have fallen into some void where there was only this stretch of road and no way back out of it. That was like not even possible. They had to stumble across either a place for directions or even just find the way back to the interstate on their own accord. One of the two had to happen.

"Dean." Roman finally broke their silence nearly a half hour later. "Look." He pointed off to the right. The road split off to a gravel one, leading up to a rather small building. Dean could faintly make out the sign on it that said Rosebud Inn. "Pull over there. We'll get directions from them."

"It looks fucking abandoned dude." Despite his own words though, Dean veered off on to the gravel road. He slowed way down, not wanting to blow out a tire by hitting a hole or anything. Dust still kicked up everywhere and made it hard to see. "What if it's like some haunted horror movie shit?"

"Well we're not staying here," Roman reminded him. "We're just getting directions."

"That gets people in trouble too."

Roman didn't deny that he was wrong. There was nothing else that could be done though. As soon as Dean stopped Roman got out of the car and headed for the motel's entrance. Dean watched him, killing the engine so they didn't waste more gas. He watched Roman go inside and he couldn't help the apprehension that filled his chest. It was probably stupid of him sure. He was just thinking too much in horror movie scenarios. But telling himself that didn't stop him from getting more and more jittery by the  
>second. Maybe he needed to just go in there and join Roman anyway. That couldn't hurt.<p>

Dean pulled the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. Standing up again felt good on his legs and back. He let himself stretch for just a moment before shutting the car door with his hip. No cars were coming up or down the road and only one other vehicle was parked at this place. Whether it was from someone staying here, or just someone who worked here, he didn't know. He didn't really care to know. He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed straight for the entrance. He was nearly there when a loud meow got his attention. He stopped and turned towards the sound. An orange tabby cat was coming right towards him. It was rather small; he didn't think it was a kitten but it certainly wasn't much older than one. "Hey kitty kitty." He dropped down to his knees and reached out for the animal. "Hey there kitty kitty." If anyone were to accuse him of making his voice cutesy and high just to talk to the animal he would have lied and said the person was full of shit. But that was totally was what he was doing. He couldn't really help it. He was a sucker for animals. "Here kitty kitty kitty."

The cat came right up to him and rubbed its head against his outstretched hand. He scratched right behind its ears, smiling softly as it purred. "Are you lost kitty kitty?"

The cat just continued to purr. Dean grinned and scooped the cat up into his arms. His smile got even bigger as he felt it rub right against his chin. That was it. He and Roman totally had to bring this cat on the road with them. He didn't care if it was impractical or not. They could totally make it work somehow. "You totally want to go with us don't you?" Dean scratched the cat right under its chin, making it purr even louder. "Yeah. You so do."

Footsteps made the cats ears perk up. "Hey Ro, is it cool if we totally keep this cat?" Dean asked without looking up. "We could name him something cool. Like Spike. Or Cujo. I mean I know Cujo was a dog, but I always wanted a pet named Cujo."

Roman didn't answer him. Dean frowned. He at least expected Roman to argue with him. Silence though? That was weird. "Come on Ro. Just look-oh holy shit!"

The man standing behind him was not Roman. Not at fucking all. The man was instead a massive bald dude wearing a green jumpsuit and a lamb mask over his face. He stared down at Dean with his head cocked to the side, the eyes of the lamb mask fucking staring holes into his fucking soul. This was it. This was the fucking horror movie shit he had been afraid of. "Jesus fucking christ!" Dean scrambled back, trying to get himself up to his feet while keeping the cat clutched to his chest. He was so going to die. "Roman!" If this was what was coming at him then who the hell knew what Roman was facing. "ROMAN!"

The door to the place opened and Roman came running with a pair of red heads (one man, one woman) right on his heels. "Erick!" The woman yelled. She had a rather thick Irish accent that caught Dean completely off guard. "What are you doing?"

The bald man lifted his lamb mask, revealing a rather massive red beard that Dean would have gotten a laugh at if he wasn't convinced that he was going to die. "That's my cat," he growled.

Dean just sat there and blinked. "Wh...what?"

Erick stared at him for a moment longer before turning to the red headed man. "Sami," he grunted. That was it. The rest went completely unspoken.

"That's his cat man," the man named Sami said. "He wants it back."

Oh. Dean looked down at the orange tabby. Its eyes were trained on Erick, its body trying to wiggle free from Dean's grip. He reluctantly let it go and watched as it went to Erick. Erick lowered the lamb mask before picking up the cat and shielding it from Dean protectively.

"Jesus." Roman walked around Erick so he could pull Dean to his feet. "I left you for a few minutes and you're out here stealing people's cats."

"Shut up." Dean felt his whole face turn red. He brushed the dirt off his jeans and looked down sheepishly. "I didn't know it belonged to anyone."

Roman snickered and clapped his hand on Dean's shoulder. "I got directions to the main road. But Becky offered to make us some food so we're sticking around for awhile."

"Becky?"

Roman pointed to the woman, who had guided Erick over to stand between her and Sami.

"Oh." Dean rubbed the back of his neck. "Do we really got to stay?"

"I spent the day eating chips. I need real food."

"I'll buy you real food where we don't have people that just about made me shit myself staring at me."

"Well if you hadn't tried to steal his cat..."

"I WASN'T STEALING IT ROMAN!"

Roman laughed and fully put his arm around Dean's shoulders.

"It's not funny Ro!" Dean was really tempted to just elbow him in the gut as hard as he could.

Roman kept right on laughing.

"You're a fucking asshole," Dean declared. "I hope you know that."

"I'm your asshole though." Roman flashed his most charming smile to take the wind right out of Dean's sails.

"You're just...ugh. That wasn't the point you ass."

Roman just laughed at him again. And he kept right on laughing even after Dean finally said fuck it and elbowed him in the ribs.


	14. Chapter 14

"So how exactly do you guys even stay in business?" Roman couldn't help but ask. He and Dean sat side by side in the motel lobby, plates of lasagna in hand. Becky had made it for herself, Sami and Erick, but had been nice enough to share with him and Dean. Dean had poked and prodded the food with his fork until he realized Roman was eating and not dying of being poisoned. He wasn't being quite sociable yet though. He was eyeing Erick in both distrust and probably some jealousy as well. Erick still had the cat that Dean had totally wanted to steal. Roman wanted to laugh, but he made himself not do it. Dean would just get pissy if he did it. "You have like nobody here."

"We usually get truck drivers," Becky answered. She was stretched out on the couch with her back pressed against Erick's side and her legs on Sami's lap. "We got quite a few regulars that stop in. Everyone else that passes through are tourists."

"Tourists?" Roman frowned. "There's like nothing around here."

Becky smirked. "Oh yeah. You guys don't know." She nudged Sami's leg with her heel. "Tell them Zayn."

Sami held up a hand as he tried to chew and swallow the food in his mouth. "The Rosebud Inn wasn't an actual hotel," he finally said. "Not originally. This guy named Adam Rose was like this total party guru and he like, had a whole cult of people that followed him around. And they lived in this place so they could party all the time."

"Really?" Dean perked up now. "That sounds fucking sweet."

Sami shook his head. "No way man. He like, made them worship him or whatever. And then he went crazy on LSD and killed them all before shooting himself."

Roman paused mid-chew. That was not the twist he had expected in this story at all. "Are you serious?"

"He totally is," Becky answered before Sami could. "And legend now has it, the spirit of Adam and his Rosebuds still haunt this place."

Dean stiffened and Roman groaned. Fuck. This was just great. They had totally stumbled upon a haunted motel. Dean was never going to let him forget this. Ever. This would be something Dean would bring up and scream at him about until the day they died.

"But it's all make believe." Sami noticed the look on their faces and decided to reassure them. "Ever since we've been running this place we've never actually seen a real ghost. We just make everyone else think they have. They pay us to come in and look around. We'll make Erick go around and make noises and pop out at people while covered in fake blood. It works pretty well."

Dean did not look reassured in the slightest. "A bunch of people fucking died here. You really don't think there's like some Poltergeist shit just waiting to happen?"

"Nah," Becky replied. "This place isn't built on their graves or anything. Besides, the way I figure it, if this place was really haunted, we all would have died by now." She cast a glance back at Erick. "Except for him. He probably would survive horror movie shit."

"What is his deal anyway?" Roman asked. He tilted his head to the side and watched as Erick just kept petting the cat. The large man was seemingly oblivious to their entire conversation. "Why is he wearing that mask?"

"Uh...he likes it?" Sami shrugged as Roman and Dean just frowned at that explanation. "I don't know. He's never actually given us an answer for it."

"He doesn't really talk much at all," Becky added. "We found him outside with the cat one day about six months after we started running this place. He didn't have a home. He didn't have much of anything besides his clothes, the cat and his mask. We couldn't leave him out there so we took him in. And he's been here since."

"You're lucky he wasn't a serial killer or some shit," Dean muttered under his breath.

Erick's head popped up. He very slowly lifted the lamb mask and stared at Dean with a rather intense expression. "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems."

That statement was met with complete silence. Erick and Dean just stared at each other, Erick almost expressionless while Dean looked vindicated and horrified at the same time. "See?" Dean pointed his finger at Erick. "Serial killer."

"Would you stop?" Roman said in exasperation. "Jesus."

"Only serial killers would know that shit."

"Nah man," Sami said as Becky rolled her eyes. "He's just smart."

Dean started to object but Roman quickly put a hand over his mouth to stop him. He didn't need to go around offending these people anymore than he probably already did. Dean tried to jerk out of his grip but Roman held on tight. "Ignore him," Roman told Erick. "He's just miffed because you won't let him have the cat."

Dean let out a string of muffled curses as he glared at Roman. Becky and Sami snickered while Erick simply lowered his mask so it covered his face once more. Roman cautiously let go of Dean and was rewarded with an elbow to the ribs.

"You're an asshole."

"Me? You're the one being rude." Roman grabbed his fork and went back to eating. His food was going to get cold if he kept fucking around. "This is why I can't take you anywhere."

"Oh yeah?" Dean was completely insulted now. "Well you're a fuck face."

"That's not helping your case."

Dean glared at him before leaning over and licking the top of Roman's food.

Becky wrinkled her nose while Sami almost laughed. "What in the world..."

Roman smirked. "Your tongue's been in my mouth practically half of this trip now. Am I really supposed to be grossed out right now?"

Dean's triumphant expression faltered. "Fuck. I didn't think of that."

Roman smirked. "That's why I'm the brains of this operation."

"You? Pleeeeeassseeeee." Dean poked at his food while looking at Becky and Sami like they were supposed to take his side.

"Don't listen to him. I'm like fifty million times smarter than he is."

"You just mask it real well," Becky said with a smirk.

"Well yeah. I can't just run around here being a damn nerd."

Roman rolled his eyes at that. Dean was just ridiculous. Completely and utterly ridiculous. But he wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

><p>The moment they were done eating Dean made them leave the Rosebud Inn. Roman may have liked Becky, Sami and Erick and whatever, but Dean was not about to let them stay at a potentially haunted place. In his mind, just because they hadn't seen a ghost didn't mean that he would have the same luck. Their directions at least allowed them to get back on the road. Roman took the wheel, getting them to Denver without further incident. They checked into a not haunted hotel and now had snuggled up on the bed. Any kind of sight seeing and pot smoking adventures would wait until tomorrow. They were too tired to even think about doing anything now. Instead they had grabbed the remote and were watching whatever Die Hard movie Roman had found on. Dean had no idea which one it was. He was certain it was one of the original three, but that was all he really knew for sure. It didn't really matter to him though. He was more focused on how comfy he felt. He was laying on his side with his head resting on Roman's chest. His hand had slipped under Roman's shirt to rest on his stomach. Roman's arm was locked tightly around him while his fingers gently rubbed his scalp. The action felt so nice and soothing that it was starting to lull him to sleep. He was just about to just give up fighting it completely when Roman spoke up.<p>

"So what exactly did Seth say to you?"

Dean groaned. That was a mood killer right there. "Why do you gotta bring that up?" He tilted his head back to frown at Roman. "Seriously."

"I'm just curious. You were going pretty hardcore with the yelling there."

"He was just being a fuck nut." Dean moved his arm so he could hug Roman's waist. "He wanted to fucking talk to you and shit. He was like -" Dean stopped to scrunch his nose and force his voice into the annoyingly high whine that he always heard whenever Seth opened his mouth "oh I want to say I'm sorry blah blah blah."

Roman frowned. "He wanted to apologize? He was like blatantly not sorry when I last talked to him. What changed?"

Dean cleared his throat and dropped his voice back down to its normal pitch. "Randy dumped his ass."

"He said that?"

"I asked him and he was silent. I took that as a yes."

Roman made a face. "Jesus. That's just...ew."

"That's just ew?" Dean's lips twitched. "You sound like Renee."

"It is ew though," Roman said in his defense. "Like jesus. He really expected me to even listen to that shit?"

"Apparently." Dean nestled his head against Roman's chest. "So you wouldn't take him back?"

"No."

"Even if he really is sorry?"

"He's not though."

"But if he was, would you?"

"No."

"Even when we go home and he like finally corners you?"

Roman sighed. "Dean come on. I ain't stupid. If Seth did that to me to begin with then clearly he didn't fucking love me as much as I loved him. I got too much self respect to put myself out there for him to fuck over again."

The reassurance Dean had been looking to get twisted with those words. Even if Roman hadn't meant to, he had completely struck a nerve. What Roman wasn't going to do with Seth had always been what Dean himself had done with Regal. Over and over again he had always let himself be used and then tossed aside whenever it struck Regal's fancy. And every time, no matter how much it had killed him to be kicked away like trash, he had let Regal back in under the hope things would change. But they never did. He would never get even the inkling of real affection that he craved from the man. For Regal, he was just as Regal's wife described him: his whore.

"Hey. Hey hey hey." Roman sat up and made Dean go up with him. "Look at me." He grabbed Dean's face and forced eye contact. "I didn't mean any of that towards you."

"It's true though." Dean shifted around uncomfortably. "It's fucking true. It always has been." He dug his nails into his jeans. It was hard as fuck admitting this. "I just...I just wanted to believe it would eventually work out. I knew it wouldn't. Deep down I fucking knew. But I wanted it to and like, I don't know, maybe I just like, figured I deserved -"

"You didn't deserve any of the shit he's done to you." Roman wasn't even going to let him finish that thought. "You hear me? You fucking deserve the god damn world."

Dean's lips twitched. "So if I uh, asked you for the whole world..."

"You'd get it on a god damn platter."

The complete lack of hesitation made Dean's heart leap up into his throat. He knocked his forehead against Roman's, unable to really say anything. He wanted to fucking say something. The words begged to be out. But the sudden rush of emotion rendered him completely silent. He could barely even breathe.

"Dean?" Roman swallowed hard. Grey eyes locked on to Dean's blue ones and Dean could fucking see the words coming before they were even said.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

It wasn't like they hadn't ever said it to each other before. But it never had the meaning that it did now. And it was fucking terrifying. "I love you too." Dean couldn't just not say it. He felt it. He did. He felt it with every fiber of his being.

The moment they took to keep staring at each other was one of the longest in Dean's entire life. When it broke, it broke with a kiss. Dean couldn't for the life of him tell who started it. That detail wasn't really important. Roman deepened the kiss and laid Dean back against the mattress. The movie had already been forgotten. Dean took the time to toss the remote across the room before his hands started tugging at Roman's clothes. Roman pulled on his in return. It was a struggle to get undressed. Neither one of them wanted to break the kiss and or stop trying to undress the other in favor of getting their own clothes taken off. Somehow they eventually managed to find themselves naked and their lips parted so they could finally breathe. Dean's heart was beating so fast in his chest that it was making his whole body feel shaky. He was certain that Roman could feel it. He swore he could feel Roman's heart going hard too. "Ro..."

Roman didn't say anything. Instead his lips started to travel down Dean's body. Every kiss sent a spark through Dean's blood. He bit his bottom lip, not wanting to start whimpering and shit already. The noises became harder to control tough as Roman's mouth got lower and lower. Once he felt Roman's tongue at his entrance that was it. All sense of control was lost. He gripped the sheets below him so tightly he thought they were going to rip. This was something he had never had done to him before  
>and the sensations were almost too intense. "Fuck...Ro...oh fuck..."<p>

Roman kept one hand on his hip to keep him from bucking up while the other hand came up to Dean's mouth. He pressed his fingers against Dean's lips. Dean took them into his mouth and eagerly sucked on the long digits. Roman watched him intently, waiting until Dean got them nice and wet before pulling his hand back. He slipped it down to between Dean's legs and started slowly replacing his tongue with them one by one.

Dean bit down on his lower lip again. He could taste blood but he didn't care. His heart was still pounding inside his chest. Every touch sent a fire down to his very core. His cock begged to be touched but he couldn't dare to. He would come undone completely if he did anything like that.

Roman's lips slowly traveled back up Dean's body. Three of his fingers worked inside him, crooking to hit the bundle of nerves that sent shock waves through Dean's body. Dean's lips parted and a desperate whimper escaped him. He couldn't take much more. He needed Roman now.

"You sure?" Roman brought his head up so he could look Dean in the eye.

"Yeah." Dean's tongue darted out and lapped up the blood he had drawn.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You're not gonna. Just do it."

Roman nodded before kissing him once more. He gently sucked on Dean's now swollen lip, his finger slipping out of him so the head of his cock could press against his entrance. Dean wrapped his legs around Roman's waist while his arms went around his body. His bitten down nails dug into Roman's back as Roman's cock slowly entered him. He groaned into their kiss, his body involuntarily tensing. Roman's lips immediately left his and traveled all across his face. They were firm but gentle, coaxing him into relaxing. "You okay?" Roman asked as he gently nibbled on his earlobe.

"Yeah." Dean moved a hand up to grip Roman's hair. His heart was still pounding away in his chest but he could get over that. "You can move."

Roman did just that. His thrusts were slow and deep, drawing moans out of Dean every time he buried himself back in to the hilt. Dean kept one hand tangled in Roman's hair while the other stayed at his back. His brain was on a tailspin from his entire situation. He couldn't think. He could barely breathe. He buried his face in the crook of Roman's neck and whimpered. Roman's arms slid under him, completely pressing their bodies together. Dean's cock rubbed against Roman's stomach as he moved. Dean's whimpers turned back into moans. He was so close. He was already so close and his cheeks flushed bright red. It was never this damn easy to get him off.

Roman's hand wrapped around Dean's shaft and started to stroke it. His thrusts remained as slow and deep as before, but Dean could tell from the way he was breathing that he was close. Dean held him more tightly, torn between needing to cum and not wanting this to end. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself to hold on. He really did. But Roman's hand picked up speed and with a cry his orgasm rushed through him. His release spilled over Roman's hand and covered both of their stomachs. Roman's head dropped down against his neck now, his release following close behind. All of his weight immediately sank on to Dean after but Dean didn't care. He just kept holding on to Roman as tightly as he could, his fingers lightly playing with the bigger man's long, dark locks. Every part of him felt boneless and utterly spent. "Ro?"

Roman just buried his face deeper into Dean's neck. He was nearly trembling, which nearly freaked Dean out.

"Ro?"

"I love you," was all he got.

Dean smiled and kissed the side of Roman's head. He was never going to get tired of hearing that. "I love you too."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** In the spirit of Christmas, I present to you an early update! Hope you all have a safe and fun holiday.

* * *

><p>Getting up the next morning seemed like the worst idea in the world. Roman was perfectly content with laying in bed with Dean for the rest of the day. Maybe the rest of the week even. Hell, the rest of their lives wouldn't be asking too much from him. He liked the way Dean fit next to him. He had his chest pressed to Dean's back, his arm locked tightly around his body. He had his face buried against the back of Dean's neck while his hand rested over Dean's chest. He could feel Dean's heart beating against the palm of his hand. It made him smile. It was slow but steady, much like the rise and fall of his chest. He mumbled things here and there, but none of it was remotely understandable. He had a thing with sleep talking for as long as Roman could remember. The only time it had bothered him in any kind of recent memory was the time he had crashed on Dean's couch after a night of drinking and Dean started yelling about a typhoon in the cornfield. Roman had no idea what the fuck that had been about. He had tried to ask Dean, but Dean had just claimed he had no real memory of that dream.<p>

Roman pressed his lips lightly against Dean's neck. He didn't want to wake the sleeping man, but he couldn't resist sneaking some loving in. He let his mouth travel across Dean's neck and shoulder, his kisses becoming more firm as he went along. Dean whimpered and turned over so he could bury his face against Roman's chest. Roman smirked, but didn't let the change in position deter him. Instead he just started kissing the top of Dean's head instead.

"Stooop," Dean whined. He didn't take his head away from Roman's chest, which kept his gravelly voice muffled. "That tickles."

"What do you mean it tickles?" Roman pulled his head back so he could look at Dean in amusement.

"It tickles," Dean insisted.

"Why does it tickle?"

"I don't know!" Dean balled up his fist and lightly punched Roman on the side. "I'm not a scientist."

Roman laughed. How could he not? Dean was too funny being all snuggled up and pouting.

"Shut up your face," Dean growled. Or tried to growl anyway. He wasn't nearly as intimidating as he wanted to be in this position. "S'not funny."

"It's pretty funny," Roman insisted. He rubbed his hands up and down Dean's back while kissing the top of his head again.

"Is not." Dean tilted his head back and wrinkled his nose. "You have morning breath."

"I'm sure yours is worse," Roman countered.

Dean gave him a good hard look before blowing an exaggerated breath into Roman's face.

"Oh god!" Roman jerked his head back. "Fuck you man. That's some rancid ass shit."

"It's not that bad." Dean pushed Roman on to his back and moved so he was laying right on top of him. "You're just a big baby."

"That's rich coming from you." Roman put his arm back around Dean and held him tight. He rubbed slow circles against Dean's arm with his thumb. "I'm pretty sure you're a bigger baby than me."

"Am not." Dean nuzzled his face against Roman's chest.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not. Take it back."

"Or what?" Roman couldn't just take it back. He had to see what Dean would do.

Without even looking up at him Dean pinched the skin right below his belly button.

"OW!" Roman looked at him in disbelief. "Really?"

"Mhm." Dean pinched the spot again just for good measure.

Roman's eyes narrowed. Hell no. He couldn't just let that fly. He moved his hand up and pinched Dean back right behind his neck.

"Mother fucker!" Dean nearly jumped right off the bed. "Asshole!"

"You started it," Roman reminded him. "Don't get mad at me for getting you back.

Dean didn't like that response. He moved to pinch Roman's nipples, only missing because Roman managed to snag his wrists at the last second. "Don't you fucking dare!"

"Oh I'll dare." Dean smirked as he tried to yank himself free from Roman's grasp. "It's purple nurple time for you bitch."

"I'll fucking murder you if you do it." Roman was NOT here for that shit. Not for a single second. "You hear me? I'll fucking murder you."

"No you won't," Dean said smugly.

"How do you know?"

"You love me."

Well fuck. Roman had no real argument against that. "You're still not giving me a purple nurple."

"Please?"

"No!"

"I'm gonna do it anyway."

"I'll bite you."

"You wouldn't dare."

Roman brought Dean's arm up to his mouth and tried to sink his teeth in.

"No!" Dean tried to yank himself free now. "Don't you fucking dare!"

"Then stop that purple nurple shit," Roman ordered. "You hear me?"

Dean groaned. "Fine. Fucking party pooper." He pulled his wrists out of Roman's grip and folded his arms over his chest. "Now I can't even go back to sleep. How am I supposed to function this early in the morning?"

Roman looked to the clock. It was just after ten. Not early in the slightest, but he wasn't looking to argue details with Dean. "We could shower and go do some shit." Getting up still sounded awful, but hell, they hadn't exactly driven here just to see the inside of a hotel room.

Dean started to object but then stopped. Blue eyes lit up as he seemed to remember something. "Dude. We can go get high as fuck."

Roman smacked a hand to his face. "That wasn't what I meant."

"It's the whole reason we came to Colorado!"

"The last time you did drugs I had to chase you down in a park while you were buck ass naked and screaming about nuns. I don't think we should do any god damn drugs."

Dean let out an impatient huff. "That was ecstasy Ro. I was fucking slipped that shit so that like, wasn't even my fault. Pot isn't going to make me freak the fuck out."

That was probably true, but it didn't mean that Roman cared for that particular point. He didn't get a chance to keep arguing though. Dean just crawled on top of him, straddling his hips and leaning down to start placing kisses across his neck. Roman tilted his head back, his lips twitching because this wasn't fair but he couldn't begin to be mad about it. "You're cheating," he finally said.

"All's fair in love and war," Dean countered. He kissed his way to the hollow of Roman's throat before moving his lips upwards. He got up to Roman's chin before stopping, his lips resting there for a moment before he moved his head back. "Ro?"

"Yeah?"

"Last night..." Dean swallowed hard and moved his fingers to trace over Roman's chest "I um...shit." His cheeks flushed and he shook his head. "I really do fucking love you."

Roman smiled. Hearing the words made him feel absolutely giddy. "I love you too." He felt even giddier saying them. It was almost ridiculous, but he couldn't begin to feel ashamed.

Dean grinned. His eyes lit up completely and the dimple showed, making Roman feel ridiculously gooey on the inside. "So uh...shower?"

"Shower," Roman agreed. He gave Dean a quick kiss before pushing him off and slapping his ass. "Let's move it."

* * *

><p>Dean couldn't quit grinning. From the shower, to going around the city to buy the pot (which they split up to hit different stores since non-residents were more limited in what they could buy at one time), to smoking it in the hotel room (which neither were sure if it was actually allowed but they said fuck it and did it anyway) to now as they kicked back at this bar - he just couldn't quit fucking grinning. He was fucking happy. He was fucking happier than any drug could have made him, which was saying something, because they had gotten some pretty good shit. Everything that had been happening during this trip kept playing in his head. Especially last night. Last night in particular had just...he couldn't even describe it in his own head. It wasn't what he was used to. It almost didn't even feel real. But it was real. It had happened and now he couldn't wipe the damn smile off his face. Roman kept looking at him and smiling right back. It was hard to tell whether he was smiling for the same reason or if he was just grinning because Dean was. It worked either way honestly.<p>

The name of the bar they had ended up in escaped him. He hadn't bothered to really care honestly. He absently glazed at the walls, which were covered with psychedelic concert posters, photos and tickets, most of which were of the Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead music played from the jukebox up by the bar. The beer was cheap and there were plenty of foosball and pool tables to keep them busy. Roman was playing pool with some dude name Rob Van Dam, who had struck up a conversation with them while they had been drinking. Dean had lost interest in him after finding out he wasn't related to Jean-Claude Van Damme, but of course Roman wasn't the type to be as rude. He played pool with the guy while Dean sat on a stool he pulled up to the table. He nursed his cheap beer in one hand while the other kept reaching out to touch Roman's ass every time he got close. Roman tried to glare at him, but all that did was make Dean laugh. "You are so gonna get it later," Roman finally muttered under his breath.

Dean just smirked. He liked the sound of that.

Roman and Rob chatted, their conversation getting lost as Dean listened more to the music. His phone started to buzz in his pocket. He ignored it at first, too lazy to even want to look and see who was trying to bother him. It wasn't until it just kept going and going that he finally dug it out and took a glance at it. The words 2 missed calls flashed on the screen. He frowned and checked the numbers, the first of which didn't bother him. That had just been Renee. He hadn't been returning her texts so she had obviously figured to call him. Which was whatever. He had been ignoring her, but it hadn't been for anything personal. The only person he hadn't ignored on the phone front was Cesaro, which was mostly due to using him to get the good hotel in Vegas. Maybe he would call her back later just so she'd quit bugging him. Or maybe he wouldn't. It wasn't anything he was looking to decide now.

The second missed call was what made his breath catch in his throat. Regal. Fucking Regal. His heart sank and flopped down somewhere inside his stomach. Fucking god damn Regal. Dean kept his eyes glued to his screen and bit down on his lower lip. He hadn't kept up with anything with Regal since stumbling upon that celebrity news show that talked about him being in Europe with that Tyler guy. Was he back? Was he calling to gloat about his new meal ticket? The man was a smug mother fucker. Anything to gloat about was a cause to celebrate for him. Or did he have an itch that Tyler refused to scratch? That was always a distinct possibility. Or had Regal ended up like Seth? Dumped and ready to crawl back until something he thought was better came along? Dean didn't know. He didn't want to know at all.

"Dean?"

Dean looked up to see Roman frowning at him. "Huh?"

"What's the matter?" Roman's eyes flickered between the phone and Dean's face. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Dean knew it was dumb to lie. Roman would immediately know he was doing it. But he didn't want to have this conversation now. He almost didn't even want to have it at all. Why should he? He was happy as it was. He didn't need to dwell on anything Regal related. That was too dangerous of a territory. Even with not wanting to go back to him now, Regal still knew how to get into his head. Regal could still take everything and twist it up and make him feel like shit. He could make him feel like he didn't even deserve Roman and he didn't want that.

Roman just stared at him. He didn't buy it, just like Dean knew he wouldn't. Dean still didn't want to talk about it. Instead he got up, setting his beer down at the nearest empty table before going outside. The bright light from the sun immediately hurt his eyes. He squinted and grabbed his sunglasses, which sat hooked into the collar of his shirt. He put them on and took a deep breath. The fresh air felt good at least. Made him calmer. Made him feel like there weren't little Regal shaped bugs crawling under his skin that wanted to burrow up into his brain. He took another deep breath before ducking into the nearby alley. He didn't want people out on the street staring at him. He needed some peace. He needed a minute to breathe.

"Dean!" Roman's voice nearly made Dean jump. "Dean what are you doing?"

Dean cringed. Roman sounded worried, which just now made him feel shitty for bailing like that. He glanced down at his phone. Regal's number still showed on the screen. It felt like it was burning a hole right through Dean's brain. With a cry he threw the phone down to the ground. He heard the screen crack as it hit the ground, but that wasn't good enough. The phone still existed. There was still a tie between him and Regal. He couldn't let it exist. "Mother fucker!" he snarled as he raised his foot and crashed it down against the phone. The heel of his boot made the screen completely break and he smiled. "Fucker!" He raised his foot and brought it down again. And again. And again. Once he got going he just couldn't stop. "Fucking Regal," he muttered. "Fucking mother fucker. Fuck fuck fuck you fucking mother fucker..."

"Hey!" Roman's voice broke through the hazy rage Dean had fallen into. "Hey hey hey!" His strong arm slipped around Dean's waist and pulled him in close. "Come here." He placed a kiss on Dean's forehead, making the smaller man go instantly still. "What the hell was that about?"

Dean didn't immediately answer. Instead he grabbed the front of Roman's shirt and tried to breathe. His knuckles turned white from the intensity of his grip. Breathe. He had to breathe. Inhale in for ten. Exhale for ten. In and out. In and out.

"Dean?" Roman tried again. "You're scaring the shit out of me."

"Regal," Dean finally answered. "He wanted something."

Roman's eyes narrowed. "What did he want?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't want to call him back."

"You broke the phone so you wouldn't call him back?" Roman frowned in confusion. "That's kind of drastic dude."

"No damn it. I broke the phone so he wouldn't keep calling." Dean let his forehead drop down on to Roman's shoulder. "He's an asshole."

"You don't got to tell me." One of Roman's hands rubbed Dean's back while the other reached up to play with his hair. "I've been the one telling you that for years."

Dean cringed on the inside. Roman had been in fact doing that. And he felt like an idiot for refusing to listen for so long. "You want to beat him up for me?"

"Fuck yes." Roman's raw enthusiasm made Dean grin. "I really got permission this time?"

"Yeah. Just uh, don't kill him. I don't really want to have to break you out of jail."

Roman chuckled. "Alright. No killing."

Dean nodded in satisfaction. "Good."

"...Unless I find a really good spot for the body."

Dean let out an exasperated groan. "God damn it Roman."


End file.
